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Kashmir Solidarity Event

Date : 08-02-2017

 

 

On 8 February 2017, The Honourable President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan participated in an Event organized by the Embassy of Pakistan, The Hague in collaboration with Kashmir Peace Council Netherlands at the Hilton Hotel, The Hague to condemn the massive Human Rights violations by Indian Security Forces in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. More than two hundred Dutch citizens, Parliamentarians from EU and Belgian parliaments, media persons, government officials, Ambassador of Iraq, human rights organizations and Pakistani community members participated in the event.

Speakers on the occasion included Member of the European Parliament Mr. Sajjad Karim, Member and Vice President of the Brussels Parliament Mr. Emin Ozkara, and Member of the Brussels Parliament & Chairman of Group of Pakistan’s Friends in Brussels Parliament, Dr.Manzoor Zahoor Elahi.

President Kashmir Council Netherlands, Mr. Zeb Khan, in his welcoming remarks said that the last event to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Indian occupied Kashmir was held on 10 November 2016 in the Netherlands graced by the presence of Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider Khan. Therefore, the Kashmir Peace Council Netherlands is especially thankful to Her Excellency Ambassador Iffat Imran Gardezi who has in a short span of 3 months arranged this second mega event after her arrival in the Netherlands.

The speakers highlighted the need to create political will amongst the European governments by making concerted efforts to approach Members of national and European parliaments to raise the issue of the massive Human Rights violations by Indian Security Forces in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. The speakers also urged the diaspora to write letters and articles in local press to raise public awareness. They also called upon the the world community and the United Nations to play their role in bring about an immediate end to the sufferings of the oppressed people of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  A video depicting the atrocities inflicted on the innocent civilian Kashmiris by the Indian security forces including the indiscriminate use of pellet guns was screened during the event. 

In her remarks the Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands, Ms. Iffat Imran Gardezi said that for the last seven decades, India has denied the valiant people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir the right to self-determination. The people of Pakistan stand with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters to reaffirm our unflinching moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for realization of their basic human rights, including their inalienable right to self-determination. She said that the dispute of Jammu & Kashmir is a multilateral issue which remains outstanding on the UN Security Council agenda with the relevant UN Security Council Resolution still remaining unimplemented. Besides this, it is also a question of the lives and destiny of more than 10 million people who continue to bear the brunt of the merciless atrocities committed by around 800,000 strong Indian security forces.

Addressing the participants, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan said that Kashmir is not a bilateral conflict between India and Pakistan, it has an international and multilateral dimension in the form of United Nations Resolutions which permits an active role by international community. He further said that People of Kashmir were the most important party in the conflict who must be involved in peaceful solution of the issue according their aspirations. He called upon the Pakistani diaspora in the Netherlands to enhance communication with the Dutch politicians and citizens to apprise them regarding the situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Click here to see the video of the event:

 

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