F.P. Report
MUZAFFARABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday said that India was a terrorist state, which had been committing the worst atrocities and brutalities against the innocent people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir for decades.
The world was, however, silently watching the Indian state terrorism against the Kashmiris, he regretted while addressing the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day. The prime minister said for last many years, India was presenting a false narrative and trying to weaken the indigenous movement of the Kashmiris for freedom by wrongly labeling them as terrorists.
There was a clear difference between terrorism and the people’s struggle for independence, he added. PM Kakar said that the Indian leadership was also claiming that Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir were part of their country. “On this day, I make it clear that that India should not have any such illusions. We believe in peace and are showing maximum patience and tolerance, but any misadventure in this regard will be forcefully responded.”
He reaffirmed that Pakistan did not want any conflict in the region, however, it was fully capable of strongly retaliating any attack on its soil. India, he said, had for many times tested Pakistan’s capacity, and if still had any desire in that regard then “we are fully ready to show our might”.
He said if India was a true democracy then it should give the people of Kashmir their just right to self-determination, besides restoring all the basic human rights in the IIOJK. PM Kakar said India must also stop the gross violations of human rights in the region along with releasing all the political prisoners. It should also abrogate all the strict emergency laws, besides removing its heavy military presence from the villages and towns of Kashmir. It should allow the Kashmiris to hold peaceful gatherings, he added.
The prime minister said that India must allow unrestricted access to the observers of UN and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), international media and human rights organizations to IIOJK to get first-hand information about the situation there; and investigate and report human rights violations. He said that India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 usurping the special status of of the IIOJK were a blatant violation of international laws, including the UN Charter, 4th Geneva Convention and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
India had since been engaged in taking further measures to alter the demographic structure and political landscape of the held Valley, he added. PM Kakar said that the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ was annually observed on the 5th February across Pakistan to express its unwavering support for the Kashmiris’ just struggle for realization of their right to self-determination.
It was also an occasion to pay rich tribute to the sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri brothers and sisters during the last 76 years, he added. The prime minister said that Pakistan had consistently maintained that a lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was possible only in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and as per the wishes of Kashmiri people.
Pakistan would continue its moral, diplomatic and political support for the just cause, he vowed. PM Kakar said that the relevant UN Security Council resolutions provided that the final disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be made in accordance with the will of its people through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
However, he added, India over the last 76 years had carried out a relentless campaign to intimidate and suppress the IIOJK people as evident from extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and custodial torture. Earlier on his arrival at arrival at the AJK Legislative Assembly, the prime minister was presented a guard of honour.
Participation of youth vital to strengthen democracy, political system: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said youth should be engaged in the political system and their energies should be utilized for strengthening democracy in the country.
Speaking during a podcast, he said political parties should be democratic minded to fortify democracy in the country. Political parties in government should improve their performance to gain political space in the country, he added. The prime minister said leadership of the political parties should be elected in a democratic manner in order to take democracy forward.
He said the idea of democracy was facing many challenges in Pakistan due to different reasons and weaknesses in the structure of the civil institutions. He said the Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan for decades, and used the health and education services and the infrastructure of Pakistan and their businessmen earned billions of dollars through the Afghan transit trade.
The prime minister asserted that Pakistan wanted a friendly government in Afghanistan as was the desire of other countries in the region. He was of the view that the government of Taliban was formed in Afghanistan after the world squandered its opportunities despite spending $ 2 trillion.
He said the Taliban forcefully took over the government as the United States and NATO abandoned Afghanistan. To a question, he said during his tenure, he interacted with the students from the educational institutions of Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, and shared his views with them and listened to their perspectives.
He said in Balochistan, armed insurgents were masquerading as civil society and speaking the language of human rights for achieving a certain goal. Those elements never belonged to a mainstream political party but were part of the proscribed organizations in the province, he added.
PM Kakar said some groups in Balochistan wanted to carve out a new country on the basis of identity and through armed struggle, and they had declared a war on the state of Pakistan.
The stance of those elements was against morality, and the Constitution and laws of Pakistan, he remarked. The prime minister said most of the people left the country for better jobs and due to economic reasons, however, millions of youth saw their future in Pakistan.
Those people who send remittances from abroad were assets of Pakistan and they were contributing to its economic growth, he remarked. He opined that there were many people who wanted to return to Pakistan after living their lives in Europe and North America. In future, more people will return to Pakistan because of their Islamic roots and attachment to eastern values, he observed.
He said during his tenure he tried to take decisions in the best interest of Pakistan. After leaving the office of caretaker prime minister, Kakar said he would like to serve in the Senate of Pakistan. He said the caretaker government assisted the Election Commission for the holding of elections which would take place on February 8 despite all the speculations.
