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Tag: Kashmir

  • Time to extend hand of peace in all directions, says Gen Bajwa

    Time to extend hand of peace in all directions, says Gen Bajwa

    Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that Pakistan is fully committed to the ideals of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence as it is a peace-loving country.

    He was addressing the graduation ceremony of 144th GD (P), 90th Engineering Course, and 100th AD courses held at Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Academy Asghar Khan, said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

    The country has rendered great sacrifices for regional and global peace, said Gen Bajwa, adding that it is time to extend “hand of peace in all directions”.

    The army chief also talked about the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Pakistan and India should also resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir and bring this human tragedy to its logical conclusion, the army chief emphasised.

    “However, we will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness,” he added.

    The army chief said that the armed forces were fully prepared to thwart any threat. The coordination and harmony displayed by all the three services in operations against the enemies of Pakistan had brought great improvement in the internal security environment, he said.

  • Indian pilot dead after helicopter crashes in occupied Kashmir

    Indian pilot dead after helicopter crashes in occupied Kashmir

    An Indian pilot was killed while another received critical injuries after an army helicopter crashed in the occupied Kashmir’s Kathua district on Monday, reported Indian media.

    Both pilots were rushed to a hospital after the crash that occurred due to a technical error. According to media reports, the chopper was coming from Pathankot when it was forced to make a crash-landing in an army area in the Lakhanpur belt of the district.

    Two pilots of the helicopter were injured in the incident, he said, adding that they were rushed to a military base hospital. “Tragic news coming in. We have one pilot fatal casualty,” a defence spokesperson was quoted by the media as saying.

    In October 2019 a Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Army carrying the then chief of the force’s Northern Command Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh and other officers had made an emergency landing following a technical glitch in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

  • Kashmir Committee chief Shehryar Afridi ditches Kashmiris on UAE trip: report

    Kashmir Committee chief Shehryar Afridi ditches Kashmiris on UAE trip: report

    Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir Chairperson Shehryar Afridi ditched Kashmiris on his recent trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as he did not meet any Kashmiris living there and neither was the Kashmir issue mentioned in the press statement released by the Pakistan diplomatic mission in Dubai, it has emerged.

    According to a report by The News, Afridi visited the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai on Sunday but Kashmiris were not invited. Pakistan Consul-General to Dubai Ahmed Amjad Ali briefed Afridi about the consular services provided to Pakistanis and the COVID-19 operations for repatriation of Pakistanis.

    Kashmiri leaders, namely Sardar Shabbir, former adviser to the Azad Kashmir government Sardar Javed Yaqub, Azad Kashmir Assembly candidate Farooq Baniya among others, also raised the issue of Afridi’s inactiveness in meeting Kashmiris and discussing the region’s problems.

    They said Afridi heads the Kashmir committee, but unfortunately did not bother to meet or invite the “Kashmiri people”. 

    As the chief of the Pakistan Kashmir committee, Afridi could have informed the community and taken them in confidence about the efforts the government has been taking to resolve the Kashmir issue, the report quoted Shabbir as saying.

    Other Kashmiri leaders said many of their relatives had been living on the Line of Control (LoC) and facing unwarranted cross-border aggression by Indian forces. “We wanted to inform Afridi of this.”

    When asked about Afridi’s visit to the consulate and Kashmiris, Press Counsellor Shazia Siraj initially declined to comment. She later said if Kashmiris had shown interest to have a meeting with Afridi, the consulate could have arranged it.

    Siraj, however, did not comment on why Kashmir issue was missing in the consulate’s press statement.

    Afridi was appointed as the chief of the Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir in May 2020. The committee that comprises senior members of the National Assembly and the Senate, monitors human rights violations and atrocities being committed by Indian forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir besides raising the same in all necessary forms.

    Other objectives of the committee include increasing awareness within as well as outside the country about the Kashmir issue, mobilisation of world opinion in support of the cause of right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir as well as the principle stand of Pakistan, and provision of political, moral and diplomatic support to Kashmiris in accordance with the United Nations (UN) resolutions.

  • Pakistan asks UN to take notice of rights violations in occupied Kashmir, fulfill plebiscite promise

    Pakistan asks UN to take notice of rights violations in occupied Kashmir, fulfill plebiscite promise

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked the United Nations and its member states to take notice of atrocities in occupied Kashmir while reminding the world body of its promise of holding an impartial plebiscite in the region.

    The PM said Pakistan would stand with the Kashmiri people till the realisation of their right to self-determination, adding that on Jan 5, 1949, the UN “guaranteed the right to self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir through an impartial plebiscite”.

    “We observe this day as a reminder to the UN and its member state of their unfulfilled commitment to the Kashmiri people.”

    In a statement shared by the APP, the PM said: “Being a direct party to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Pakistan will continue to underscore the imperative of holding a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

    According to the PM, the importance of the right to self-determination has been acknowledged in various human rights conventions and decisions of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. However, due to the “Indian intransigence, the Security Council has failed to fulfill its pledge to the Kashmiri people”.

    The PM said that Pakistan calls on the international community to take against the well-documented human rights violations being committed by the Indian occupation forces against Kashmiris and ensure that they get their right to self-determination.

  • Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani has said that the meddling of the military in the political affairs, though a reality, was “detrimental to the country”.

    In an interview with BBC Urdu, the former general said whether the army should intervene in politics or not is a debate that has led us nowhere. “Our experience tells us that whenever the military intervened, the political parties ostracised staged a comeback,” Durrani said.

    “Gen Ayub Khan was supposed to keep Zulfikar Ali Bhutto out, but he staged a comeback and got elected. After Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto came to power.”

    The same thing happened during the regime of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “The two parties which he thought should be kept out – PPP and PML-N –were elected to power. So, this political engineering is harmful,” he said.

    “Imran Khan’s biggest problem is the impression that he did not come to power by himself and that he came with a khaki burden. Some people don’t learn from history because they say we will create our own history,” Durrani added.

    The former general also talked about challenges faced by Pakistan on external and internal fronts.

    “If you ask me challenges from outside, I would say Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey pose new challenges,” he said. The former ISI chief went on to say that “India has not always been the biggest threat to us”.

    “The country is facing three types of challenges: economy, political instability, and social cohesion,” he said.

    “There are some areas like Balochistan where there is unrest among people who feel politically alienated and deprived. The economy is in bad shape…. The government’s credibility is bad because people believe it has been brought into power by the military,” he said.

    He also opposed the changing of status of Gilgit-Baltistan which, he said, will be a blow to the Kashmir cause.

    “When I was looking after the affairs of Kashmir, a close friend of mine, Yusuf, explained to me that the day we made the mistake of changing GilgitBaltistan status, it would be a big blow to our Kashmir cause,” he said but did not explain who Yusuf was.

    “You may give more rights to G-B, if you want to, but it should not be forcibly made a province of Pakistan,” said Durrani, while commenting on recent government promises of giving Kashmir the provincial status.

  • Celebrities ‘honoured’ to be part govt’s special advisory board on Kashmir

    Celebrities ‘honoured’ to be part govt’s special advisory board on Kashmir

    Chairman of the Special Committee of the Parliament on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi has announced the formation of a special advisory board, that will work in liaison with the entertainment industry in Jammu and Kashmir towards internationally promoting the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the valley and its people. The aim of the board is to highlight the plight of the Kashmiris under decades of Indian oppression.

    According to a press release, the due to be notified board will be a “creative alliance of some of Pakistan’s top media personalities from the country’s television, cinematic and sporting spheres as well as in equal ratio some of J&K’s finest academics, thinkers and artists, and will be aimed at propagating Kashmir’s cultural richness both at home and abroad.”

    The initiative is in line with Pakistan’s long-standing position, which is to promote the freedom of the Kashmiris from Indian oppression.

    Actors and celebrities who have been invited to be part of the board include Humayun Saeed, Saba Qamar, Fahad Mustafa, Atif Aslam, Anwar Maqsood, Shaan Shahid, Ali Azmat, Yousaf Salahuddin, Saira Kazmi, Rahat Fateh Ali, Hadiqa Kiani, Shehzad Roy, Humaima Malick, Yousaf Salahuddin, Shaniera Akram, Adnan Siddiqui, Bilal Ashraf, Samina Peerzada and Shafqat Amanat Ali.

    Film Producers Jerjees Seja, Momina Duraid and Ammara Hikmat have been chosen for the advisory role, while directors Syed Noor, Nadeem Baig and Bilal Lashari are also part of the list.

    Meanwhile, sportspersons including Aisam ul Haq, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Maria Toorpakai, Wasim Akram, Sana Mir and Karishma Ali have been also been invited to join.

    In a tweet, Adnan Siddiqui said that the invitation to join the board was a “matter of great honour and immense pride for him”.

    Shaan said that everyone must support every initiative taken for Kashmir.

    “No political point scoring should be done on issues that are of immediate attention,” added the actor.

    The Legend of Maula Jatt’s producer Ammara Hikmat also said that she was honoured to be part of the board.

  • Saudi Arabia angers India over new currency notes

    Saudi Arabia angers India over new currency notes

    India has lodged a protest over the issuance of Saudi Arabia’s new currency notes that do not feature Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India.

    The 20 Riyal bank note was issued by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority on October 24 to mark the Kingdom’s presidency of the upcoming G20 summit in November. The note, with an image of the world map, has shown Kashmir as separate states and not belonging to any of the rival Asian states of Pakistan and India.

    Anger erupted in India because of the map, even though the country has illegally occupied the territory of Kashmir and there is a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decree recognising it as an international dispute.

    External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava is reported to have said that New Delhi has raised “serious concerns” about the banknote both at the Saudi Embassy in India, as well as at India’s embassy in Riyadh.

    “We have taken up this gross misrepresentation of India’s external territorial boundaries on an official and legal banknote of Saudi Arabia… we’ve asked the Saudi side to take urgent corrective steps in this regard,” he said.

    Additionally, it was found that the distortion was in the Pakistani map as well.

    The G20 summit is set to be held from November 21-22 this year in Saudi Arabia and India is a part of it. Although the relations between Saudi Arabia and India are seen as healthy, with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman referring to India’s Narendra Modi as his “elder brother” during a meeting last year, the new developments might create some hurdles.

    Earlier, India put a ban on Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera in 2015 for publishing a map of the country that excluded Kashmir. Also, the country has frequently censored the Economist magazine for showing Kashmir as a disputed region.

  • We are with you, Mr PM, but take a look back at home too

    We are with you, Mr PM, but take a look back at home too

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), warning India against any misadventures.

    “I want to make it clear that any attempt by the fascist totalitarian RSS-led Indian government to aggress against Pakistan will be met by a nation that will fight for its freedom to the end,” he said, exposing India’s fascism.

    “While the Nazis’ hate was directed at the Jews, the RSS directs it at the Muslims, and to a lesser extent, the Christians.”

    Talking about Islamophobia around the world, PM Imran said India is the one country in the world where “the state sponsors Islamophobia”.

    On the Kashmir issue, he emphasised that Pakistan had always called for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute. He said that India must repeal the measures it had instituted since August 5, 2019, end its military siege and other gross human rights violations, and agree to “resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and, of course, the wishes of the people of Kashmir”.

    He also pointed out that what India did on August 5 last year was in violation of the UN Charter, council resolutions and international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention. “Changing demographic structure of occupied territory is a war crime.”

    PM Imran is right about the atrocities in India being committed against religious minorities, especially the Muslims in India. From beef lynchings to Delhi riots to Modi himself laying the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir on the one-year anniversary of revoking the special status of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK), the message that the Indian government is giving to its Muslim citizens is quite clear: the Hindutva supremacy brigade is in charge and you can only live here on our terms.

    This is a grave indictment of the so-called world’s largest democracy where the rights of minorities now are almost non-existent. The media in India has largely become pliant, a few honourable exceptions aside. We hardly see them questioning the state on issues that matter the most.

    PM Imran’s comments on India are spot on. We do hope that he would also take notice of the new sectarian fire that is roaring in Pakistan these days.

    The huge anti-Shia rallies that were taken out in Karachi and Islamabad should be a wake-up call for our state. It took a long time for the state to put out the sectarian conflict in the country. It would be extremely dangerous if sectarianism starts again. We cannot forget the target killings of Shia Hazaras in dozens just a few years ago.

    The state must end this before it becomes uncontrollable again. Interfaith harmony as well as sectarian harmony is important for any society and for people to co-exist peacefully. Pakistan’s media has been quite responsible in the recent sectarian rift. We hope that the state, too, will play its part.

  • India in flames as govt moves to change status of Gilgit-Baltistan with representation in parliament?

    India in flames as govt moves to change status of Gilgit-Baltistan with representation in parliament?

    The Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government plans to make Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) the country’s fifth province, two years after powers of the Islamabad-controlled council for the region were transferred to a local assembly.

    The government’s plans have been outlined by Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, who said the region will be accorded the status of a full-fledged province with constitutional rights such as representation in both houses of the parliament.

    “After consultation with all stakeholders, the federal government has decided in principle to give constitutional rights to GB,” he said, adding that the government has decided to deliver on the promise it made to the people there.

    PM Imran is expected to visit the region soon and make a formal announcement about the change, Gandapur said.

    While there has been no immediate reaction to the minister’s remarks from Indian officials, New Delhi has consistently opposed changes made in the region by Pakistan because it claims GB as part of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Gandapur also said that subsidies and tax exemptions for the region wouldn’t be withdrawn after the grant of constitutional rights. “Until the people there stand on their feet, they will continue to enjoy this facility,” he said.

    The minister contended that the deprivation faced by the people of GB for 73 years would end with the change. “Besides constitutional rights and a provincial setup, important steps are being taken for developing the region.”

    People familiar with developments told The Current that people concerned, including those a part of the establishment, had been in touch with political parties regarding the changes.

    “The PTI is backing changes with an eye on upcoming elections in GB so that it can make political gains and form the next government in the region,” an official told this scribe on the condition of anonymity.

    Preparations for the elections that are likely to take place in November are complete, and the distribution of tickets by the PTI will begin soon, they added.

  • Kangana Ranaut calls Mumbai ‘Pakistan’ after authorities demolish her offices

    Kangana Ranaut calls Mumbai ‘Pakistan’ after authorities demolish her offices

    Kangana Ranaut has referred to Mumbai as ‘Pakistan’ after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished her office in Bandra. Sharing pictures of the demolition taking place in her office, Kangana wrote “Pakistan”, along with the hashtag ‘Death of Democracy’.

    Her successive tweet read: “I am never wrong and my enemies prove again and again this is why my Mumbai is ‘PoK’ (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) now.”

    According to details, BMC had listed 14 “violations” at the offices of Manikarnika Films, Ranaut’s movie production house. The bungalow, which the actress had bought three years ago, is listed as a residential property by the BMC.

    As per the notice, violations included: merging of two bungalows, converting a ground-floor toilet into an office cabin, converting a storeroom into a kitchen, making an unauthorised pantry in the ground floor, adding toilets near the storeroom and a parking area, illegal partitions in the first-floor living room, an illegal meeting room in the pooja room, converting a balcony into a habitable area besides a floor extension. At the time of the demolition, Kangana was not in Mumbai but was in fact on her way to the city.

    The demolition work was stopped midway today after the Bombay High Court ordered a stop to the demolition and served notice to the BMC, which is controlled by the Chief Minister’s Shiv Sena.

    Ranaut reacted to the demolition by terming the act as the death of democracy. She also questioned how the officials could demolish the structure when such procedure is banned till September 30 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Kangana has sparked controversy with her recent comments about the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra. In response to a remark by Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut where he asked her not to come back to the city after she claimed she felt unsafe in the city, Kangana had compared Mumbai with ‘PoK’.

    Earlier, Feroze Khan, Muneeb Butt and Momina Mustehsan called out Kangana for unnecessarily dragging in Pakistan in all her arguments.