Pakistan salutes indomitable spirit of people of IIOJK & honours their immense sacrifices: FO Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad

ISLAMABAD, July 29 (SABAH): Pakistan has expressed concerns over the deteriorating health of Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik and demanded his immediate release from the Indian detention.

Speaking at the weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad called upon the Indian government to refrain from victimizing the true representatives of Kashmiri people by way of inhuman and illegal detentions and implications through sham trials in baseless and fictitious cases.

The FO Spokesperson once again urged international community to take cognizance of India’s inhuman and illegal detention and treatment of Yasin Malik and of other political leaders, and to ensure that the Kashmiri people can exercise their right to self-determination as promised to them by the UN and the world community.

FO spokesperson said as we prepare to solemnly commemorate Youm-e-Istehsaal on 5th of the next month marking three years of India’s unilateral and illegal actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan salutes the indomitable spirit of the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and honours their immense sacrifices.

He said that India, the serial violator of human rights, would be well advised to introspect its inhumane siege of IIOJK and its total failure to smother the flame of freedom and self-determination from the hearts of the Kashmiris despite employing draconian tactics, indiscriminate use of illegitimate force, unleashing a reign of terror, torture and human rights violations for the past 75 years. India’s futile attempts to obfuscate cold facts by making controversial, irresponsible, and untenable assertions stand fully exposed – it cannot mislead the world.

“More than 1.5 billion people of this region deserve to see the dawn of peace and prosperity – something that has been held hostage to India’s hostile agenda, hegemonistic designs and systematic violations of human rights in IIOJK” FO Spokesperson said.

“As we prepare to solemnly commemorate Youm-e-Istehsaal on 5 August marking three years of India’s unilateral and illegal actions in IIOJK and unabated human rights violations, we salute the indomitable spirit of the people of IIOJK. We honor their immense sacrifices. And we reaffirm our resolve to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters and extend unrelenting, all possible support until they realize their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the UNSC Resolutions” he said.

Replying a question, FO spokesperson said that Ulema of Pakistan and Afghanistan have longstanding relations due to our shared history, religion, geography, culture and people to people contacts. In this context, a delegation of Pakistani Ulema led by Allama Taqi Usmani and including many leading scholars was visiting Afghanistan. They had meetings with the Interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, cabinet members and leading Ulema from Afghanistan. They discussed strengthening peace and stability and good relations between the two countries. I understand this was a very good visit, and well received in Afghanistan, as is evident from the kind of interactions and meetings that have taken place. So I would say that this has resulted in very positive engagement between the two sides, he said.