Srinagar: The Pakistan Administered Kashmir president Sardar Masood Khan has said that Kashmiris would protect their right to self-determination at any cost and would continue to fight for freedom.

Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international conference “Kashmir in Focus: Avoiding Conflict and Quest for Peace” at Punjab University (PU) in Lahore on Tuesday, he said Kashmiris must be given right to self-determination as per UN resolutions. He said India was terming the freedom movement terrorism while the fifth generation in Kashmir was sacrificing lives for their right to decide their future. He said Kashmir Movement was peaceful like Pakistan Movement. He said Indian “atrocities” in Kashmir could not be described in words. “Indian forces had a licence to kill and mass blinding was also going on. Kashmir was guarantor of Pakistan’s security and economic stability and Pakistan was incomplete without Kashmir,” he added.

Khan according to reports said that India wanted Kashmir issue to be no more a core agenda between the two countries and added that Kashmir issue was trilateral, not bilateral and Kashmiris were the most important stakeholders.

He said Kashmir issue was not being resolved only because we were Muslims. “We must move forward to resolve Kashmir issue with utmost confidence. India could neither attack, nor defeat Pakistan in traditional or nuclear war but it had badly defeated Pakistan on communication front. Indian-American community had influenced important stakeholder and Pakistan must improve its diplomatic efforts to fight their propaganda.”

He urged media, think tanks and academic institutions to play their role for countering “Indian propaganda”.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir said academic institutions must take lead to find the solution to Kashmir issue which was acceptable for all and China must play active role in this regard. He said economic development was a must to face major challenges being faced by the country.

Prof Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said peace in South Asia was linked to resolution of Kashmir issue. He said it was not a territorial dispute but a question of right to self-determination. He said war and militancy were not the solution to Kashmir issue while international community was also not taking interest in the matter. He said we must highlight human rights violations in Kashmir and delink Kashmiris’ freedom movement from a terrorist movement. He said we must inform international community about the Kashmir issue facts. He said we must spread the cause at national and societal level.

Moonis Ahmer said India had turned a piece of heaven into the biggest jail on earth. He said political parties in India wanted to repeal article 370 of its Constitution in which Kashmir had been given special autonomous status. He said Kashmir was the test case for Indian secularism. He said India wanted to repeal article 370 to absorb Kashmir.

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