ISLAMABAD – Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) will form an advocacy group for Indian-administered Jammu andKashmir, according to a statement released Friday by Pakistan-administeredKashmir.
A 16-member ASEAN parliamentary delegation said during a visit toMuzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, that themulti-national body would “seek justice for the Kashmiri people.”
“We would contact parliaments of the regional countries, and are alsotrying to use the mosques network to launch a big Kashmiri campaign,” saidHaji Mohammad Azmi Abdul Hamid, who is head of Malaysian ConsultativeCouncil for Islamic Organization.
Lawmakers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and Cambodia visitedthe region where they met cross-section of people including PresidentSardar Masood Khan.
Mohammad Azmi said the advocacy group would use non-governmentalorganizations based in ASEAN countries to mobilize the “Kashmir campaign”.
“[We] fully realize the agonies of Kashmiri people. [Our] visit aimed todeclare support and express solidarity with the Kashmiri people,” he said,suggesting that an ASEAN media delegation may be sent to visit Azad Kashmirand Pakistan.
The members of the group criticized “criminal negligence” of the UNSecurity Council on Kashmir and condemned treatment of children by Indianforces in the region. They stressed the need for a peaceful politicalsolution to the Kashmir issue in light of UN resolutions.
The statement said Azad Kashmir president asked ASEAN to come forward tohelp the “oppressed Kashmiri people”.
“We hope they will extend support to them in their just struggle towardstheir right to self-determination,” Khan said.
Khan regretted that the UN had “failed to raise an effective voice againstgenocide and the trampling of human rights of the Kashmiri people”.
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“The UN Security Council is not concerned over the happenings in occupiedKashmir, as its [UNSC] President Karen Pierce has denied debating onKashmir this month. It appears that the Security Council is waiting for thecomplete annihilation of Kashmiri people,” Khan said, asking, “If not now,then when?”
“This is a war between humanity and inhumanity,” said the statement by theAzad Jammu and Kashmir presidency, adding that the world must wake up andrealize the pain and agony of Kashmiris.
Khan thanked Malaysia, China, Turkey and Iran for “adopting a clear standin support of the people of occupied Kashmir”.
Disputed region
From 1954 until Aug. 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special statusunder the Indian Constitution which allowed it to enact its own laws.
The provisions also protected the region’s citizenship law, which barredoutsiders from settling in and owning land in the territory.
India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. Chinaalso controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistanwho have fought two wars over Kashmir.
