Cautioning that the situation in Kashmir is “aggravating beyond control”, the United Jihad Council Saturday called upon Pakistan to extend “full support” to Kashmiris “before it is too late.” India’s entire leadership and institutions are “unanimous” in their “designs to hurt Kashmiris and their economy”, the UJC head Syed Salahuddin said at a press conference here.
The UJC is an amalgamation of around a dozen militant groups operating in Kashmir, with Salahuddin’sHizbulMujahideen its largest constituent.
Leaders of almost all member groups were accompanying Salahuddin at the presser.
The UJC chief warned that a “great human tragedy” was “in the making” in Kashmir and the government of Pakistan is “required to announce full military support to Kashmiris without wasting even a second.”
“Please do not leave Kashmiris at the mercy of 800,000 forces personnel. After all, they (Kashmiris) too are human beings and may run out of patience anytime,” he said.
He regretted that Pakistani leadership was “begging for talks notwithstanding India’s intransigence, haughtiness and jingoism.”
“There is no question of a peaceful negotiated settlement of the longstanding issue in the presence of such an attitude and atmosphere in India,” Salahuddin said, asking Prime Minister Imran Khan and foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to “hear the pleas of Kashmiris from their hearts.”
He pointed out that Pakistan had held more than 150 rounds of talks with India in the past, but “gained nothing except damage to the Kashmir cause.”
“We feel so much pain when we see Pakistani rulers pinning hopes on talks. I wonder why are they following the beaten track?” he asked.
Directly addressing Prime Minister Khan, he said “neither did Kashmir dispute see settlement through talks in the past nor would it see so in future.”
Salahuddin noted that in spite of “criminal silence” of international institutions and weak policies of the governments in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Kashmiris are “fighting with stones and sticks.”
He maintained that since Pakistan was “basic party” to the dispute, it was her “moral, constitutional and national responsibility to extend full support to the struggling Kashmiris.”
Referring to recent United Nations Human Rights Commissioner’s report on Kashmir, the UJC chief said it had proved with facts and figures that Kashmir was the “most disturbed area in the world where worst human rights violations were being committed with impunity.”
Salahuddin demanded that Pakistan should also launch an effective media campaign to highlight historical struggle of Kashmir.
“Remembering Kashmir on two or three occasions in a calendar year is not going to work,” he said.
Salahuddin also asked mainstream political leadership in Kashmir to “give up political opportunism and join the ranks of their wounded freedom-seeking nation.”