Not to sit back until Kashmiris given self-determination, whatever be cost: PM

NEW YORK (Web Desk) – Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan determined that the Pakistani nation would not sit back until Kashmiris are given their right of self-determination, whatever be the cost. The prime minister said during the interview with US-based daily Metro New York. In the article published in US-based newspaper, PM Khan said, “It’s time for the world to decide how long political and economic expediencies would continue to overshadow human values and morals.” “One can’t hunt with the hound and run with the hare. However, the Pakistani nation will not sit back until Kashmiris are given their right of self-determination, whatever be the cost,” the prime minister said. He said that he aimed at shaking the world conscience to the plight of 8 million people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK). He once again reiterated Pakistan’s desire for peace, nonetheless, peace with honour.” Pakistan wishes to resolve this decades-long dispute which has assumed the ugliness of human tragedy,” he added. Imran Khan said Post-Pulwama face-off bore testimony to the perils of hostilities in nuclearized South Asia. “The specter of war was narrowly averted only after Pakistan released a captured Indian pilot for the greater cause of peace,” he mentioned. Since Aug 5 Indian government’s illegal strike through so-called constitutional cover against Kashmiris has led to unprecedented worldwide protests. Pakistan has been engaged with all conscious members of the world community to play their role in addressing this gross injustice. The world at large continues to despise Indian action across the globe while communities with cognizant conscience are expressing their detest against Indian excesses. After the egregious Indian actions of Aug 5, 2019, and the imposition of a curfew, preceded by additional troops’ deployment in IoK, international media, human rights organisations, and many world leaders have expressed concern over the plight of the 8 million caged people of Kashmir and ensuing tensions between India and Pakistan. However, few chose to continue their penchant for business and trade considerations over universal human empathy against human rights violations. This is a repeat of the same policy of appeasement that led to World War II. The question looms large: Is the world ready for a similar catastrophe? Ironically, this time under nuclear overhang. PM Imran khan said the world leaders, especially President Donald Trump, are cognizant of the centrality of the Kashmir issue to the peace of South Asia. His recent offer of mediation, not only during my meeting with him, but also at a couple of subsequent occasions, displays his astute understanding that the Kashmir dispute can spiral tensions between India and Pakistan to unimaginable consequences, which may transcend the regional frontiers. He told the world that Kashmir was not a mere territorial dispute, but a tale of an unfulfilled promise of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir, espoused in UNSC resolutions, concurred by founding father of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Over the last seven decades, he said defiant Kashmiris have not acquiesced to Indian occupation, despite paying the heaviest cost in terms of human lives, honour, dignity and of late (since first Modi regime) the pellet guns. “People of Kashmir are also looking up to international support for their just cause. Let the distractors of the UN be shamed, who blame the United Nations of being selective in its approach,” he said. The question arises: For how long can the world allow such recurring threats to regional and global peace? How long will the Kashmir dispute simmer as the nuclear flash point between India and Pakistan? What is the likely cost of this apathy and complacency, for not only two countries, the people of Kashmir, but for the world at large?