Ambassador, Masood Khan, former President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir has stated that the people of Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) were not alone, emphasizing that Pakistan, the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the global Kashmiri diaspora stood firmly with them in their just struggle for self-determination.

Speaking at events marking Kashmir Solidarity Day and addressing students, policymakers, and international participants in the Federal metropolis, Ambassador Khan said that credible reports documenting human rights violations by India continued to surface, yet they remained largely ignored at the global level. He noted with concern that the ground realities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) were still inadequately reported internationally, allowing systemic repression to continue without meaningful accountability. 

Ambassador Khan stressed that Kashmir Solidarity Day was not merely a series of symbolic events but a strong and unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s unwavering political, diplomatic, and moral support for the Kashmiri people. He highlighted that advocacy for Kashmir was actively carried out in international parliaments, think tanks, universities, and public forums, while diaspora communities continued to organize demonstrations worldwide against Indian oppression. 

He emphasized that it was the collective responsibility of Pakistan’s government institutions, political leadership, civil society, and information platforms to consistently expose the realities of Kashmir, including extrajudicial killings, destruction of property, demographic manipulation, and other violations of international law. He urged that Pakistan’s engagement on Kashmir must remain a year-round effort rather than being limited to symbolic commemorative days. 

Referring to evolving global dynamics, Ambassador Khan observed that Kashmir had regained international attention amid broader geopolitical crises, including conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine. He warned that Kashmir remained a nuclear flashpoint between two nuclear-armed states, making its peaceful resolution an urgent global priority. He advocated for structured and sustained dialogue between Pakistan and India, facilitated by credible diplomatic channels, to address the dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. 

Ambassador Khan reaffirmed that the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was firmly established under the Indian Independence Act of 1947 and multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. While acknowledging limitations in the UN’s enforcement mechanisms, he pointed to comprehensive human rights reports issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2018 and 2019, as well as subsequent findings by UN special procedure experts, which documented grave abuses following India’s unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. 

He described the situation in IIOJK as one where the Kashmiri population had effectively been turned into a besieged society, subjected to arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, property destruction, and widespread intimidation. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)