AJK Assembly strongly rejects abrogation of Article 370 by India

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJK LA) in its meeting held here on Sunday, strongly rejected the abrogation of Article 370 by Indian government and termed it a dirty conspiracy against the state subjects and their democratic rights. They termed the sinister actions as an atrocious assault to alter the region’s demographics and erode Muslim majority Kashmir’s ancient political, cultural and religious identity. According to details, the legislative body through a unanimously adopted resolution, presented by Leader of the House Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq on Saturday denounced the Indian move and termed it as a flagrant violation of the UNSC resolutions. While presenting the resolution in the assembly, the AJK PM said that 5th August was another darkest day in the history of Kashmir. He said that being a representative forum of the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, the AJK legislative assembly represents the sentiments and feelings of the Kashmiri’s living on both sides of the Line of Control. The august House, he said, rejects the India’s attempted annexation of the held territory of Jammu and Kashmir and considers all its actions as illegal and against the spirit of the UN resolutions and international law. “The House considers changing the status of IIOJK and dividing it into two Union Territories as an attempt to push forward Hindutva agenda in the region and erode identity of Kashmiri’s. The resolution condemned the India’s cultural aggression and distortion of the Kashmir’s history and its civilization. He said that this house condemns in strong terms the Indian bid to reduce Kashmiri’s role in political decision making process, depriving them of the right to due representation through illegal, unjust and unconstitutional delimitation process. The house, he said, was concerned about the illegal settlement of non-Kashmiris in IIOJK by India and issuing fake domicile certificates to non-state subjects during the last four years. The PM said that this representative forum (AJK assembly) considers all these measures as a violation of the Kashmiri’s fundamental human rights and a conspiracy to render Kashmiri’s landless in their own homeland. He said that over the past 34 years, 96225 civilians have been martyred, 22960 women widowed and 1, 07,923 children orphaned. He pointed out that more than 8 thousand mass graves were discovered in IOK. He said that 11259 women were humiliated whereas the number of half widows has swelled over 2,500. “Over 10,000 youths have been forcibly disappeared and thousands of Kashmiri’s have been forced to migrate during the years of turmoil”, he said. “This House demands that the international community take notice of these serious violations of human rights in the region”, the PM said. He said that this House expresses its grave concern over the threat to the health and lives of political and human rights activists including Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Musrat Alam Butt, Shabir Shah, Asia Andrabi, Nahida Nasreen, Fahmida Sufi, Dr. Qasim Fakto and other activists who have been languishing in Indian jails for the past several years. He said that the House considers India’s expansionist designs as a threat to region’s peace and security. The house through a unanimous resolution denounced the threats of aggression against Azad Kashmir by the political and military leadership of India. “This House sends a strong and clear cut message to India that the people of Azad Kashmir will not be intimidated by such threats”, the resolution said, adding that and any misadventure or attempt of infringing the AJK’s territory by India would be given a befitting response. The House demanded the international community to play its role to prevent the Indian government from restoring to such tactics. In a separate resolution, the house paid eulogizing tributes tribute to Kashmiri’s unwavering struggle, courage and perseverance in the face of India’s relentless and ruthless state repression. “The House demands the Indian government to revoke all its illegal actions it had taken on and after August 05, 2019 and pave a way for peaceful settlement of the lingering dispute in line with the UNSC resolutions “, the PM said The PM also thanked the people and the Government of Pakistan for expressing solidarity with the Kashmiri people. The PM said that today’s session also condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan and termed it as a conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan. The House, he said, lauds the supreme sacrifices rendered by the Pakistan armed forces in defending the territorial integrity of the country