The leaders of the All Parties Kashmir Conference (APKC) on Sunday announced to launch an aggressive diplomatic and political campaign against India to draw the attention of the international community towards the unresolved Kashmir dispute and Indian forces atrocities on Kashmiri people in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Addressing a press conference along with the top Kashmiri leaders after the All Parties Kashmir Conference here, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, said that it was decided at the conference that demonstrations and rallies will be held in all the big cities of Pakistan including Muzaffarabad to draw the world attention towards gruesome human rights violations and systematic killings of Kashmiri people by the brute Indian forces in IIOJK, adding, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be pursued everywhere in the world. He said that the Kashmir issue would not be allowed to be put into cold storage. He said public meetings will be arranged in Islamabad and historical demonstrations will be organized in London Brussels and New York to apprise the international community about the grave situation of occupied Kashmir.
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry announced that all Parties Kashmir conference has decided to launch a full-fledged diplomatic and political campaign to apprise the world of the grave situation of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The conference paid homage to the historic struggle for the liberation of occupied Kashmir and unparalleled sacrifices offered by the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir who have been struggling for attaining their fundamental right to self-determination and expressed full solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
The conference was presided over and hosted by the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, while the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, former President and Prime Minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, former Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan, former Prime Minister Sardar Atiq Ahmad Khan, Most Senior Minister and President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Azad Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, President PPP Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Chief Organizer PML-N Shah Ghulam Qadir, President JKPP Sardar Hassan Ibrahim, President Muslim Conference Mirza Shafiq Jaral, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Dr Khalid Mahmood. Maulana Imtiaz Siddiqui of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, former Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Abdul Rashid Turabi addressed the conference. They highlighted the current situation in Occupied Kashmir and offered various suggestions.
The president said that our forefathers liberated Azad Kashmir and now from this base camp we will raise an effective voice for the liberation of Occupied Kashmir all over the world. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir President said that Human rights organizations will also be contacted on the situation in Occupied Kashmir. The participants termed the convening of the Kashmir Conference as timely and said that the President of Azad Kashmir as well the government should play a leading role in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Joint Declaration of the All-Party Conference strongly condemned the 5th August measures especially India’s efforts to change the demography of the state as well as to change the Islamic and cultural identity of the state and vowed that no compromise will be made on the geographical unity, historical and cultural identity and natural resources of the State of Jammu and Kashmir against the interests of the Kashmiri people. The declaration made it clear that the future of Jammu and Kashmir will be decided in the light of the UN Security Council resolutions for granting the Kashmiri people their fundamental right to self-determination. The Kashmiri people consider the right to self-determination sacred and are determined to make sacrifices and to continue the political struggle for this right.
The All Parties Kashmir Conference welcomed the recent principled stand taken by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resolve the Kashmir dispute on the basis of UN Charter and Security Council resolutions. The joint statement called upon the UN Secretary-General to address human rights violations in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in light of the recommendations of the 2018 and 2019 reports of the UN Human Rights Council to prevent human rights violations by the Indian forces in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Establish a Commission of Inquiry to conduct a comprehensive and independent international inquiry to investigate the killings of Kashmiri people in Occupied Kashmir. The joint statement also urged the UN Secretary-General to release all arrested political leaders, business leaders and civil society representatives, including Kashmiri leaders Shabir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Dr Abdul Hameed Fayyaz, Musarat Alam, Naeem Khan and Ms Asiya Andarabi. The Joint Declaration of the All Parties Kashmir Conference strongly condemned the restrictions on freedom of expression in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, especially the lockdown of the Kashmir Press Club, and the arrest of prominent human rights activists Khurram Pervez and Ahsan Onto.
The conference urged upon media and international human rights organizations to play their role in the release of the arrested journalists and human rights activists.