MIRPUR (AJK)
AH Rao

For the first time in the 66-year history of Azad Jammu & Kashmir territory, the Indian national flag has been displayed along with the national flags of various other countries at the building of the state-run Kashmir Institute of Management in the capital city of Muzaffarabad.
One wonders whether it is a deliberate attempt or an inadvertent act of the administration of the Kashmir Institute of Management, the government-funded body of management meant for research and training of the civil servants of the AJK government. It has brought the Indian ‘Tiranga’ to the liberated territory of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, the base camp of the Kashmir freedom movement.
The KIM management, according to reports, claims themselves as the think tank which devises policies on various governance issues. According to the information gathered by this scribe, the Kashmir Institute of Management has displayed, for permanently, the national flags of various foreign countries including India’s in the premises of its building in Muzaffarabad without taking care of the sensitivity and the internationally-acknowledged disputed status of Jammu & Kashmir state including AJK.
Sharply reacting against the reported display of Indian national flag in the official building of KIM, seasoned Kashmiri legal expert and politician Ramazan Advocate said that Jammu & Kashmir state is an internationally-recognised disputed territory and India is a major party to the Kashmir dispute which has not recognised the liberated territory of AJK. So, he added, the display of Indian flag on the official building was extremely irresponsible, unlawful and unconstitutional act on the part of the perpetrators.
Talking to this correspondent here on Thursday, Ramazan, who is also the chairman of Publicity Board of Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Conference, demanded immediate removal of the Indian flag from the building of Kashmir Institute of Management besides a high level probe into, what he called, the irresponsible and unlawful act on the part of the management of the KIM Institute.