By Hamza Ameer
Islamabad: Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) aka Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) has said that Pakistan should make it a matter of principle that “talks with India should be held only under the UN auspices”.
“Side-by-Side with Pakistan and India, and presence of Kashmiris on the negotiations table in a must”, he said.
“The UN supervision of the talks is essential in order to carry forward an implement the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir”, he added.
Masood Khan lashed out at India, stating that New Delhi has “used the bogey of bilateral talks to consolidate its illegal occupation of Kashmir and to keep the United Nations and the Kashmiris out of negotiation process”.
“And now, it can one again use the talks as a ploy to divert attention from its recent illegal actions in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)”, he said.
Masood Khan also advised that the talks on Kashmir dispute should not be held in Islamabad or New Delhi, adding that they should be held in New York.
“However, to ensure participation of Kashmiris, these can be also conducted in Islamabad, New Delhi or Muzaffarabad and Srinagar”, he said.
Highlighting the importance of UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, Masood Khan said that no matter where the talks are held, the agenda of the talks should be as per the framework of the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir only.
Reiterating and seconding Islamabad’s stance on the Kashmir dispute, Masood Khan said that Kashmir is not a bilateral dispute between India and Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s stand on talks is very clear that Kashmir is not a bilateral dispute between Pakistan and India but it is an international issue which must be resoled by the UN Security Council”, he said.
“However, India does not consider it even a bilateral and describes it as its internal matter”, he added.
Masood urged that the Kashmir dispute must remain with the international community, insisting that expulsion of the global community from it would allow “India to turn Occupied Kashmir into its colony, and stop it from depriving the Kashmiri people of their land and homes”.
Masood Khan brushed aside the stance undertaken by Kashmiri leaders including Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who were known to be anti-India and have recently shifted their stance to being pro-India.
“These elements have never been Kashmiri leaders, but these were the people who had sold Kashmir to India in the lust of power, and after they have lost power and privileges, they want to strike some deal with India through blackmailing”, he said.
Masood Khan called on the Pakistani and the Kashmiri community living in countries spread across the world to rise up, and establish contacts with the international community on a political level with an aim to gather support in their favour and “stop India from the illegal process of demographic change in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.
