Chairing the Executive Council meeting of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) at the Huriyat’s Rajbagh headquarters, Mirwaiz Dr. Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq Thursday said that Kashmir is the main cause of political instability in the region and the tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.The meeting was attended by APHC Executive Council members Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Gani Lone, Muhammad Musadiq Adil, Moulana Masroor Abbas Ansari and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza.During the meeting, different facets of the ongoing resistance movement and the current political situation were discussed.
Terming the unresolved Kashmir issue as the main cause of tension between India and Pakistan and the main reason of instability in the entire South Asian region it was stated in the meeting that the statement by the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond that “India and Pakistan should move beyond the Kashmir issue” is regrettable as it reflects sheer insensitivity and apathy towards the people of Kashmir and the Kashmir issue.The participants said that the Kashmir issue, is the issue of the present and future of more than 10 million people, who have for the past more than 6 decades been relentlessly struggling and sacrificing for their right to self determination. It was further stated that this problem is to a great extent the result of the British Raj legacy when it evicted the subcontinent and hence it is morally and ethically binding upon Britain to help in its resolution.
The participants wondered that while Britain rightly endorsed the Scottish people’s right of self-determination, and held the referendum in 2014, fulfilling its obligation towards them and to the United Nations Charter of which it is a signatory which enshrines the right of all people to self-determination, why does it not ask India and Pakistan to do the same in Kashmir ? APHC said that statements like Mr Hammonds unfortunately reflect a typical mindset that “all are equal but some are more equal than others”. Let us reiterate that the people of Kashmir are by no means second class world citizens but are a very bold and courageous people, politically and intellectually highly conscious, who have taken on the might of a big country like India , for achieving their basic and just political rights and no one can take them for granted.APHC further said that it is also illogical and naïve to expect that ties between India and Pakistan can normalize and there can be any real and substantial forward movement in their relationship unless the Kashmir issue is tackled, as the history of hostility between them since 1947 bears witness.Meanwhile, a spokesman of the APHC while paying tributes to the two youth martyred in a gunfight with government forces at Padgampora, Pulwama said that the sacrifices of these youth will not go waste and the present struggle will be taken to its logical conclusion. The spokesman condemned the use of excessive force and violence on the local population by the government forces. (CNS)