The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has denounced India’s military approach on the Kashmir dispute saying that Kashmir is purely a political issue, which needs to be resolved through exercise of right to self-determination, guaranteed by the United Nations. According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Abdul Rashid Minhas said the amalgam members in a meeting held in Srinagar said the precious sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiris for their inalienable right have created a magnificent history among contemporary revolutionary movements of the modern world. The participants of the meeting said in the last over five years since abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, APHC, civil society, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, common people and other political leaders have been facing relentless detentions, interrogations and arbitrary travel bans.

Article 370 and Article 35-A allowed IIOJK to have its own constitution, flag, laws and the rights of indigenous Kashmiris to land, education and jobs. They said a small population, besieged by over one million occupation forces of India shielded by draconian laws and a free license to kill with impunity, is a grave matter which demands urgent attention and necessary legal action in the light of United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir. The meeting, while expressing serious concern over the continued illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders and activists, including APHC Chairman Masrat Alam But, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi, Naheeda Nasreen, Fehmeeda Sufi, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Ayaz Akbar, Pir Saifullah, Merajuddin Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam.

Farooq Ahmed Dar, Bilal Siddiqi, Molvi Bashir Irfani, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Ameer Hamza, Dr Hameed Fayaz, Abdul Ahmad Parra, Hayat Ahmed Butt, Zaffar Akbar Butt, Muhammad Yousuf Falahi, Rafiq Ahmad Ganai, Zahoor Ahmed Butt, Umar Adil Dar, Saleem Nanaji, Muhammad Yasin Butt, Fayaz Hussain Jaferi, human rights defender Khurrum Parvaiz, and journalists languishing in different jails of India and IIOJK, urged their immediate release. They also paid rich tributes to recently martyred youth in a fake encounter in Srinagar. The Hurriyat leaders urged the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres to take serious cognizance of the critical situation prevailing in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions.

Meanwhile, All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter General Secretary Advocate Pervaiz Ahmad in a statement in Islamabad welcomed the reiteration of unwavering political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people by the Formation Commanders Conference of the Pakistan Army. He said the declaration of the Pakistan Army has boosted the morale of the Kashmiri people. He added that the condemnation of the ongoing human rights violations by India in occupied Jammu and Kashmir at the Formation Commanders Conference under the chairmanship of Pakistan Army Chief Syed Asim Munir support to the Kashmiri people made it clear that the Pakistan Army wanted a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)