AJK president briefs French media persons

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan Friday, in a virtual meeting with French media, academia, think tanks, human rights organizations and civil society, said India was using the cover of coronavirus pandemic to break the will of Kashmiris by denying them their right to self-determination and by altering the status of the internationally recognized disputed region.

The virtual video conference was convened by the Embassy of Pakistan, Paris in which Ambassador of Pakistan to France Moin ul Haque, prominent French media persons, scholars, intellectuals and civil society representatives participated, said a news release received here.

The AJK president in his address contrasted the worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns to save the people from deadly pandemic with the nine-month old lockdown in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) where eight million Kashmiris were virtually under siege like conditions, without access to food, education, medicine, livelihood and freedom of movement and speech.

He also apprised the participants of Indian attempts to change the demography of the disputed region first by unilaterally and illegally revoking Article 370 and 35A of its constitution and later through new domicile law, which were in contravention of several resolutions of the United Nations Security Council which forbade both India and Pakistan to unilaterally change the status of the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sardar Masood Khan also called upon the world leaders, intellectuals and media persons to take notice of the atrocities committed by Indian security forces against innocent Kashmiris and raise their voice for the resolution of the dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and wishes of the people of Kashmir.