Safi rejects India-Afghanistan statement on Kashmir
Islamabad: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference-AJK chapter Convener, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, has strongly rejected the remarks made about Jammu and Kashmir in the joint press conference of the Indian and Afghan foreign ministers, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is not a part of India but an internationally recognised disputed territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Ghulam Muhammad Safi in a statement issued in Islamabad said the position reflected in the New Delhi’s joint press conference was a blatant violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which clearly recognise Jammu and Kashmir as an unresolved dispute and call for its settlement through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN supervision. He said India’s claim that Kashmir is its integral part is contrary to historical facts, international law, and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Expressing deep disappointment over the Afghan foreign minister’s remarks, Safi said it was unfortunate that a brotherly Muslim country had chosen to echo India’s stance on Kashmir. He added that Afghanistan, having itself suffered from foreign occupation and prolonged wars, should have stood by the Kashmiri people on the basis of justice and principles.
“The Kashmir freedom movement is not an extremist or territorial conflict but a legitimate, principled, and peaceful struggle for the right to self-determination — a right that has been acknowledged by the United Nations,” he said.
Safi reminded that India has illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir since 1947, a fact never accepted by the Kashmiri people. Over the past seven decades, he said, Indian forces have killed hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris, subjected thousands to enforced disappearances, and imprisoned countless others in notorious Indian jails. He said India was now pursuing a sinister plan to alter the territory’s Muslim identity and demographic composition by settling non-locals in the occupied territory — a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The APHC-AJK Convener urged the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the international community to take immediate notice of India’s illegal occupation, human rights violations, and demographic changes in the territory. He called on them to play an effective role in ensuring the Kashmiri people’s UN-recognised right to self-determination.
