AJK President Demands Immediate End To Rapid Demographic Transfer In IIOJK

President, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Masood Khan Saturday called for immediate halt of rapid demographic change, taking place in Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2020 ) :President, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Masood Khan Saturday called for immediate halt of rapid demographic change, taking place in Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

AJK president said this in a meeting with Member British Parliament and Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Afzal Khan who called on him here.

Both the leaders discussed the deteriorating situation in IIOJK and urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to implement its Resolutions on Jammu Kashmir, guaranteeing the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

He said after taking the unilateral steps on August 5, last year and introducing the New Domicile Rules, the Indian government has adopted a policy of land grab and lebensraum by introducing the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order, 2020.

These rules, he said, allowed any Indian citizen to buy land in the disputed region and also allow the lands acquired by the government for industrial or commercial purposes to be disposed of or sold to any Indian.

The AJK President said that priority, right now, was ceasing the rapid population transfer, whereby in a matter of a few months, around 2 million non-State Hindus from all over India have been granted domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said at this pace the Muslim majority of Jammu Kashmir would be made a minority in the next 2-3 years.

Masood Khan said Kashmir was going through darkest period of its history where Kashmiris were being killed, maimed, blinded and incarcerated under draconian laws like the Public Safety Act.

"There is no political representation of the Kashmiris as the true leadership is jailed. The non-Kashmiri Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Secretary are directly executing decisions issued from Delhi", he added.

He thanked the members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir belonging to various British political parties for raising awareness on Kashmir and issuing a report on Kashmir.

He said British MPs, especially from the Labour Party have helped raise the Kashmir issue by holding debates, both in the House of Commons and House of Lords.

He said the British Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) continued to give benign statements and distances itself from the dispute by terming it as a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India.

AJK President said British MPs, the diaspora community and the British civil society have to engage the British government and the FCO to take up the Kashmir dispute in the UNSC.

MP Afzal Khan said that the violations taking place in IIOJK was at a massive level, the likes of which we have not seen in recent decades.

He said the United Kingdom has a historical key role in resolving the Kashmir dispute.

Acknowledging the role of diaspora community in raising the Kashmir issue, he said political parties along with the British citizenry would strive to further strengthen advocacy on Kashmir in the UK.

Afzal Khan said even after exiting the European Parliament, the former British Member of the European Parliaments (MEPs) would continue to use their contacts and continue to engage other MEPs in helping keep the Kashmir issue alive in the European Parliament.