LAHORE - President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan in a statement issued by his office warned Indian army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane and the BJP-RSS leaders – Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Mohan Bhagwat – not to give irresponsible and provocative statements of imposing a war on AJK and Pakistan.
The Indian army is trained to deal with soft targets like unarmed civilians; he said adding that for the past seventy-two years it has accumulated experience in brutalizing Kashmiris or killing its own civilians. It has no experience of fighting an equal force.
He said that if it takes the risk of attacking Azad Kashmir or Pakistan, the Indian armed forces will be crushed because on this side the valiant Armed Forces and the people of AJK and Pakistan are ready to teach India a lesson for its crimes against humanity in the IOK.
The President also said that India must not forget that it was defeated in 1948, 1965, and 1999; besides being pummeled in 1962 by China.
“Against this dismal record, it is in India’s own interest not to indulge in bravado and braggadocio,” the President said and highlighted that at the dictation of the BJP and RSS, the new Indian army chief was trying to divert attention from the nationwide protests against the CAA and NRC. “I think this time their ruse will not work because Indian citizenry has seen through their malicious designs.
“The people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir had driven out the Dogra forces in 1947 and repulsed Indian National Army’s attack to regain the liberated in 1948. At that time, the people of Azad Kashmir were driven by their passion against tyranny which enabled them to defeat Indian forces. Today, how can the BJP think of attacking a nuclear-armed Pakistan? If India can find a way to go beneath the nuclear threshold, it would be surprised by a proportionate and punitive retaliated response from Pakistan,” he said.
Finally, the President said that the Indian Army Chief is hiding behind the Parliament to proceed against “retaking’ Azad Kashmir. “You retake something that was yours in the first place. The territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan was liberated before India’s occupation of one part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. When you try to take something that is not yours, it is called aggression and irredentism.”
A day earlier, while addressing a session on Kashmir at the Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest 2020 here at the Al Hamra Centre in Lahore, President Masood Khan said that the territory of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir is under a complete siege and India’s claims of prosperity and normalcy in the region are based on utter falsehood. He added that we reject this false claim which was accentuated by the dropping out of Delhi-based Envoys belonging to the European Union from a “guided tour” of IOK organized by the Indian government.
The AJK President informed his audience that the situation in IOK is dire and their lives have been disrupted due to a communication blockade and security lockdown. Young Kashmiris have been rounded up and sent to the most notorious prison houses all over northern India, where they are subjected to unimaginable torture leaving them scarred for life.
He added that women are molested and treated as spoils of war. Masood said that the Kashmiris in an act of civil disobedience have imposed upon themselves an economic boycott and refused to sell their annual produce, amounting to millions of dollars.
The President urged the global community to step forward for safeguarding the lives of the Kashmiri people. He said that the United Nations’ reaction has been very disappointing and reiterated upon it to play a proactive role in the resolution of the Kashmir issue by implementing its resolutions and ensuring the people of Jammu and Kashmir exercise their right to self-determination through a free and fair plebiscite.