THE PEOPLE OF AZAD KASHMIR SHOULD OPENLY DEMAND PROVINCIAL STATUS AS WELL: HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE

THE PEOPLE OF AZAD KASHMIR SHOULD OPENLY DEMAND PROVINCIAL STATUS AS WELL: HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE

http://kashmirdiasporaa.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-people-of-azad-kashmir-should_22.html

Azad Kashmir, a territory consisting of only 4200 square miles, was created as a separate entity for the purpose of convincing India and the world that it will eventually liberate the occupied portion of the state of Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian government (also known as Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir IDA: JK by the United Nations). There are several United Nations resolutions still pending  which grant the right of self-determination to the citizens of IDA: JK; but it seems as if the world nations are following the code of ‘might is right’, and no sanctions are laid upon India for the numerous human rights violations committed against innocence.

The Azad Kashmir government being a small separate entity could not convince United Nations or anybody else. Unfortunately, that scenario did not prove beneficial. Instead, it is creating confusion in the minds of children born in Azad Kashmir and the children born abroad as if their attachment with Pakistan is transitory; and that once the fate of Kashmir is decided they will form an independent state parallel to India and Pakistan. There is no need to incur extra expenditure by running the Azad Kashmir government and same elected member can run the province and the money saved can also be utilized for the betterment of the people. It is time that instead of living in an illusion the people of Azad Kashmir should also demand provincial status in the same way as it has been adopted by the people of Gilgit Baltistan.  

For instance, India captured 53000 square miles area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947 and from this, 11000 square miles was snatched by China in the 1962 war (also known as Aksai Chin). The Indian Parliament already endorsed the resolution passed by Sheikh Abdullah’s government in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (IDA: JK) making it an integral part of India. Consequently, India received a passport to force her own will in the occupied territories; and it has deployed more than 700,000 Indian forces who commit all kinds of atrocities against the Kashmiri people. The IDA: JK is virtually devoid of human rights. To this day, the Indian regime and its armed forces have murdered more than 202,802 citizens, made 215,994 arrests, 110,117 have disappeared, 115,782 homes have been demolished, leaving 122,792 widows and 207,335 orphans to say the very least.

We the Kashmiris have only two options;( i) to keep protesting peacefully for the ejection of the Indian armed and civil personnel from the IDA: JK, (ii) to pursue the United Nations to take necessary action against the severe crimes occurring against innocent human beings in IDA: JK. The UN has a mandate to give priority to the humanity security/rights and it must solve the issue of Kashmir just as it has solved the dispute of East Timor and South Sudan.