The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has denounced statements by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Rajnath Singh on Kashmir terming them as India’s efforts to misrepresent Jammu and Kashmir as its internal matter while concealing the harsh realities of its occupation.   According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesperson Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement issued in Srinagar, dismissed the baseless remarks by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh against Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

He said such statements aim to obscure the grim realities on the ground in IIOJK and reflect an old habit of Indian rulers misleading their people.  The APHC criticized India’s attempts to normalize the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir through propaganda and high-profile visits. The APHC also criticized recent remarks by Omar Abdullah alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ganderbal, accusing him of compromising the interests of Jammu and Kashmir and surrendering to Indian hegemony. 

The APHC said the Indian government seeks to alter the demographic character of the Muslim-majority territory and disempower its residents through anti-Kashmir policies and authoritarian diktats imposed since August 2019. These measures, the APHC noted, aim to manipulate electoral outcomes to favor India’s ruling party, which uses Jammu and Kashmir as a political scapegoat.  The Hurriyat further stated that the Indian administration is employing divide-and-rule tactics by fragmenting Jammu and Kashmir’s population along religious, regional, ethnic, and political lines to suppress collective aspirations. 

The people of occupied Kashmir, the APHC emphasized, have been fighting for their UN-recognized right to self-determination for the past 77 years and remain steadfast in their struggle. A resolution to the Kashmir issue cannot be based on regional or cultural factors but must honor the political aspirations of its people, the statement stressed.  Reiterating that Kashmir is a political dispute, the APHC called on the United Nations to pressure India into granting the Kashmiri people their inalienable right to self-determination, as recognized by the global community and ratified by both India and Pakistan.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)