MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Friday said that Kashmiri leaders who went to New Delhi and shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had rubbed salt into the wounds of the Kashmiri nation.

“Mr Modi’s hands are stained with the blood of innocent people whether in Gujarat or in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he said while speaking at a function here.

He said the pro-India leaders had flocked to Delhi not to get any relief for the oppressed Kashmiris but an assurance from their masters to get power in Srinagar.

They should have kept in mind that it was the same Modi and his criminal gang that had butchered thousands of Kashmiri people for demanding freedom and their inalienable right to self-determination, Mr Khan said.

Says pro-India leaders flocked to Delhi to get power in Srinagar

He maintained that the fanatic Indian ruler would never hand over power to them and they would further lose the trust, if any, of the Kashmiri people.

He was of the view that there was no need for engagement in “backdoor diplomacy or confidence-building” with the killer of Kashmiri people.

“Will the Kashmiris forget that 1500 youths and children were blinded when Mehbooba Mufti ruled occupied Kashmir and similarly thousands of youths were killed and buried in unmarked graves when Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah were at the helm of power,” he questioned.

Separately, Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said those who had met the “killer of Gujarat and occupied Kashmir” were not representatives of the Kashmiris by any stretch of imagination but rather they were India’s collaborators throughout the occupation as well as its partners in crime.

He said the true representatives of Kashmiris were those who were undergoing house arrest or languishing in different notorious prisons in occupied Kashmir and in different parts of India.

He pointed out that the meeting was held to hoodwink the international community and none of the struggling Kashmiris had pinned any hope on it.

He said the way these pro-India leaders were seen standing before Mr Modi had only added to their disgrace.

“India has always humiliated and ridiculed them; nevertheless they have always made themselves available to serve India’s interests without an iota of shame,” he said of them.

Mr Haider reiterated his earlier suggestion that Islamabad should also invite all notable Kashmiri leaders, including those representing the All Parties Hurriyat Conference on this side of the divide, to make it clear to the world community that the genuine representatives of the masses were pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders and not those who had supported India’s unlawful occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

On Thursday Mr Haider had also taken to Twitter to express his views on this issue.

“The world must know that no cosmetic measure on Kashmir will help India or Pakistan witness any durable positive development. Until & unless this issue is resolved in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people fears of a devastating nuclear war will continue to grip this region,” he had tweeted.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2021