‘India cannot silence roar of freedom’

ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said that the Kashmiris have high expectations from the newly elected members of the British parliament to raise their voice for the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiris.

He stated this while speaking at a function at Bradford, read a message.

He said that the clout of the Kashmiri and Pakistani community in the UK has increased and he lauded their efforts to inform the British lawmakers and public opinion of the killings and massive human rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir.

Khan congratulated the 12 British members of parliament of Kashmiri and Pakistani extraction over their election in the recent elections. He particularly thanked the members of the House of Commons who had held a debate in January this year at which they expressed their support for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination, called for activation of the UN's role in resolving Kashmir and demanded that India end its brutalities in the Indian-held Kashmir.

He said that the news and social media were reporting Indian atrocities in IHK but many governments in the West were hesitant to act because of their trade and economic interests tied with India.

He called on them not to look the other way when India, in violation of international law, kills and imprisons Kashmiris with impunity in IOK and across the Line of Control.

The Azad Kashmir president said that the Kashmir dispute could not be resolved through military means. "It was time to accelerate political and diplomatic struggle to liberate Kashmir and this track was stronger than Indian occupation forces' brutal military campaign and terrorism in Kashmir", he said.

Sardar Masood Khan said "Kashmiris will win and prevail no matter what because they were championing a just cause and they had rejected the illegal occupation of the IHK. If India has failed to annex Kashmir through oppression in the past seventy years, it won't be able to do so now."

Paying tribute to youth of Kashmir, he said Kashmir is ringing with the slogans of freedom - freedom from Indian captivity and freedom from denials of all political rights. These voices would not be silenced, he said.

The AJK president said that the Kashmir issue is an international issue; its resolution should not be left to the manipulation of India through the farce of bilateral talks which have not produced any results.

He thanked Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for their steadfast support for the cause of Kashmir and underlined that Kashmiris' resolve had become stronger than ever to get their inalienable right of self-determination