ISLAMABAD-Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam on Friday said Prime Minister Imran Khan's last year speech at the United Nations had challenged Indian narrative on Kashmir and advocated the case of Kashmir very effectively.
Addressing a seminar on “Kashmir Under Siege” he said that that time has changed and we should not expect from United States to play any big role in a settlement of Kashmir dispute. He said that Pakistan remained ally of the United States from 1960 to 2001 Afghan war but Washington has never tried seriously to resolve the long standing issue of Kashmir as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
He said in the south Asian region, after India Pakistan the second median size state which was also a nuclear power. He said that the federation of Pakistan was based on the norms and value of justice as per vision of Qauid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He said that without Kashmir Pakistan was not complete as a sovereign nation state as Kashmir’s joining of Pakistan was vital.
He said that Muslim majority areas, Hyderabad and Junagarh were also disputed at the time of partition. Hyderabad and Junagarh were militarily occupied by India, he said adding that India was the one country in the world which has kept occupying many regions including Goa by military power. Today Kashmir dispute can result in a war as we are strategic area of the world. He said that the recent stand off with China has exposed Indian strategically. India is the bully but does not have the dimensions. He said India has been blinding young kids in Kashmir, rapping women and abducting young people.
He praised Farzana Yaqoob for her courage and said Asiya Indrabi and others were languishing in Indian prisons.
He said that UN Human Rights Council for the first time pointed out in its report that there were the atrocities, torture, death, rape, killing of innocent citizens of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said that 82 per cent of India's population was Hindu but was ruled by non Hindus for thousands of years.
We in Pakistan are privileged to have that opportunity; we must uphold norms and values of the spirit of our religion.
Earlier, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Senator Walid Iqbal also shed light on the topic in the seminar. He said that he was grateful to ministry of Information for organizing this special event. He said that Quaid Azam had declared Kashmir a Jugular vein of Pakistan. He said that Kashmiris were facing atrocities since long. He also recited poetry of Allama Muhammad Iqbal on Kashmir.