AJK President demands UNSC session, appointment of envoy on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD, Jun 04 (APP):Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan Thursday called upon the United Nations to immediately intervene and convene a session of the Security Council in order to save the lives of eight million Kashmiris living under India’s inhuman lockdown, curfew and military oppression.
“The UN Secretary-General should appoint a special envoy on Kashmir and the Security Council should hold meetings on Kashmir to come up with a roadmap to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. There should be meetings, and there should be a product.” Khan told an engaging video conference attended by key UK parliamentarian, Kashmiri and Pakistani leaders and representatives of the diaspora community.
Chaired by Raja Najabat Hussain, the conference was also addressed by Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, Pakistan High Commissioner to UK Mohammad Nafees Zakariya, Chairperson All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir Debbie Abrahams, MPs Angela Rayner, Jack Britton, MP Andrew Gwynne, James Daly, Sarah Owen, Yasmin Qureshi, Mohammad Yasin, former MEPs Shafq Mehmood, Julie Wards, Senator Faisal Javed, Member of National Assembly Naureen Farooq Ibrahim, Member of AJK Legislative Assembly Sehrish Qamar, Convener Hurriyat Conference Azad Kashmir Faiz Naqshbandi, Abdul Hameed Lone, and others.
Majority of the British parliamentarians attending the Kashmir webinar said Kashmir was an international, not a bilateral, issue and demanded international intercession to end human rights violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and resolve the issue in accordance with Kashmiris’ wishes.
Addressing the conference Sardar Masood Khan thanked all parliamentary political parties of the UK for expressing concern over the situation of occupied Kashmir and stressing the need for a peaceful political and diplomatic settlement of the Kashmir conflict.
He made it clear that Pakistan was ready for the solution of Kashmir issue through all means including third-party mediation, in which the Kashmiris are also involved as a party to the dispute.
Rejecting that Kashmir was a bilateral dispute between Pakistan and India, he said that Kashmir as an unresolved issue still on the UN agenda, and is thus it is an international issue.
Brushing aside India’s baseless allegation that Pakistan was interfering in other side of the Line of Control or is harbouring terrorism, AJK President said that such allegations were an attempt on the part of India to hide crimes against humanity in occupied Kashmir, and to divert the attention of the international community from the Indian sordid actions in IOJK and its own domestic unrest.
Sardar Masood Khan said that Pakistan was not against more than one billion people of India, but against the fascist and fanatic approach of the BJP and the RSS which is designed to target minorities particularly the Muslims to materialize their heinous plan of Hindu hegemony. Those talking about peace and development have no realization that Kashmir with its eight million people is on fire and there is a need to extinguish this fire before doing anything else.
He added that under the garb of COVID-19, India is poised to change the demographic profile of Kashmir by introducing the black domicile law. The AJK President particularly thanked 600 European MPs who had demanded a peaceful solution to Kashmir issue through political and diplomatic means. He also expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of thousands of British lives in COVID-19.
Addressing the Kashmir Webinar, Julie Ward, Member European Parliament 2014-2020, said that human rights should be front and centre; commercial and economic interests should not be pursued at the expense of human rights; and BDS could be pursued in a legal way.
Angela Rayner, Chair and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said Kashmir that her party’s position on Kashmir had not changed and that Party Leader Keir Starmer’s position hadn’t changed either.