ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi has said that regional peace is linked to right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir and they will soon get freedom from illegal occupation of Indian state.

Mr Afridi expressed these views while speaking on Tuesday at a seminar held under the aegis of the Ittehad-i-Islami and Pakistan Falah Party.

He said the EU DisInfolab had exposed Indian designs and the world now understood how Indian media and propaganda machinery had been twisting facts about occupied Kashmir.

He said the ceasefire agreement with India had been revived in order to safeguard the Kashmiri population living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).

He said that Indian agents had been twisting facts to portray the agreement in a negative manner.

Mr Afridi said that recent statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa about regional peace and development were also being negatively projected by the Indian media.

He said Pakistan was committed to the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people and Kashmiris would be provided support at all platforms till they got their rights.

He said Indian occupation forces were committing war crimes in the disputed regions and the world must take action and sanction Indian army personnel and political leaders for committing war crimes in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“On Pakistan Day, the entire Pakistani nation, especially the Kashmiri brothers and sisters, must be congratulated on their steadfastness and continued struggle for completion of the incomplete agenda of the partition of the subcontinent,” said Mr Afridi.

“We will continue all possible efforts for the independence of Kashmir. On Pakistan Day, we pledge to continue all possible diplomatic, moral and political support to Kashmiris,” he added.

He said Pakistan Day reminded “us of the sacrifices rendered by our elders in creating this country”.

“Posters and flags in support of Pakistan at various places today across Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir on the occasion of Pakistan Day are telling evidence of this,” he said.

“That is why we condemn the Indian atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity that are being committed against the people of occupied Kashmir, and salute the Kashmiris’ struggle for independence,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2021