INDIA has once again made false claims about Azad Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to divert attention of the international community from the real issue, the need to agree to a just resolution of the longstanding conflict as well as widespread massive abuse of human rights in the occupied territory.
The Ministry of Foreign Office has, therefore, done well by rejecting outright remarks made by the Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, regarding Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) during a session at the Chatham House in London, saying they were “baseless claims”.
Its spokesperson, during weekly press briefing, pointed to an alarming increase in provocative statements from different Indian leaders asserting unwarranted claims over Azad Jammu and Kashmir despite the fact that historical facts, legal principles, moral considerations and ground realities all refute these fictitious claims.
India, like Israel, is in illegal occupation of the Jammu and Kashmir region in clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and its own pledges, made on different occasions, to the people of Kashmir.
As highlighted by the spokesperson J&K is an internationally recognized disputed territory and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions clearly stipulate that its final status shall be determined by the will of its people through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
New Delhi has been using dilly-dallying tactics vis-à-vis a durable and just solution of the conflict in the hope that it will be able to digest the occupied territory with the passage of time.
However, Kashmiris have all along demonstrated that they will not sit idle until they realize their legitimate right of self-determination as guaranteed by the international community.
They have been waging a struggle to throw away the yoke of Indian slavery and instead of respecting their aspirations India tries to discredit the freedom movement by dubbing it terrorism.
This is also an attempt to camouflage the state-sponsored repression against people demanding their birth right.
India has also been leveling baseless allegation of abetment of ‘terrorism’ against Pakistan but its propaganda stands exposed as there is no let up in resistance by Kashmiris despite virtual sealing of the Line of Control (LoC).
India has been taking different steps to strengthen its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir since 27 October 1947 when it forcibly took over control of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, in a major development, on 5 August 2019, India scrapped the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and bifurcated it into two ‘Union Territories’ to alter its internationally-recognized disputed status and undermine the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
It is also taking a number of steps to change the demography of the disputed region to transform Kashmiri Muslims into a disempowered minority in their own land.
India’s occupation forces have intensified their campaign of oppression that includes: extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, collective punishments, sexual violence, restrictions on freedom of expression and religion, curbs on media, qinternet shutdowns and arrests of human rights defenders.
These are not mere accusations as all these violations and excesses of the occupation forces are well-documented by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and regional/global human rights agencies.
In this backdrop, it is strange that instead of reversing its illegalities and atrocities in Occupied Kashmir, India should lay claims on the liberated territory, which is an abode of peace and becoming a model of progress and development with the passage of time.
There can be no lasting peace and security in the region without resolution of the dispute in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people and in line with the UN resolutions.
