Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played his ‘last card’ by revoking the special status of Held Kashmir, stressing that the residents of the occupied valley will not accept New Delhi’s illegal move.

“Narendra Modi committed a mistake … he has played his last card,” the prime minister told the participants of an event held in Islamabad to express solidarity with the people of the occupied valley. “Modi thinks that the people of Kashmir will accept the decision of revoking Article 370. He [Modi] doesn’t know what the Kashmiri people have faced in the last several decades, it has eliminated the fear of death among them. Tens of thousands of Kashmiri people will not accept the decision and come out when the curfew is lifted,” he added.

Thousands of people turned up to form a human chain, stretched across the Constitution Avenue to express solidarity with the people of Indian-held Kashmir, living under curfew for the last over two months. On Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call, the workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), students from various educational institutions, government employees and people from cross sections of society, gathered in the federal capital to convey a clear message to Indian government that the whole of nation stands by their Kashmiri brethren.

The flags of Pakistan and Kashmir were fluttering across the Constitution Avenue with the national songs being played loudly. The people waved the flags and chanted slogans ‘Kashmir Banay Ga Pakistan’ and ‘Long Live Pakistan’. The event is in continuation of the government’s decision to observe each Friday as a day of solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who proudly calls himself the ‘Ambassador of Kashmir’ led the human chain activity which was also attended by President Dr Arif Alvi, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and federal ministers and the PTI leaders from across the country.

“We are here to give convey a message to the Kashmir people that whole of the Pakistani nation stands by them and will keep up this,” the prime minister told the participants of the human chain at Prime Minister’s Office where across the road is located the Diplomatic Enclave housing most of the foreign embassies and missions.

The prime minister, who had widely criticized the international community’s response to the human rights situation in Kashmir during his interaction with US leadership and think tanks during his recent visit to New York, now targeted the international media for not highlighting the Kashmir issue to its real severity.

Instead of highlighting the Indian oppression in a disputed territory of Kashmir, he said the international media is giving far more space to the protests in Hong Kong which is part of China. “I want to highlight the issue of double standards as Kashmir is not a part of India and Hong Kong is a part of China but the proportion of coverage of the Kashmiri people is very less as compared to the issue of Hong Kong,” he said. “Our movement is for the human rights of the Kashmiri people; God willing it will become massive,” he added.