By Qasim Swati (United Kingdom)
It was on Friday, the 27th of September, 2019 that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, raised and presented the ‘Issue of Kashmir’ in front of the world community in a crystal-clear way at the UN Headquarters in New York City, USA. While addressing the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Imran Khan severely criticised and bluntly slammed the Indian Premier, Narendra Modi, and let the world know about his secret agenda of anti-Muslim campaign in the form of ethnic cleansing and genocide of Muslims in India, particularly in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir. Being a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party/BJP (a right-wing political party in India, historically reflecting Hindu nationalist positions and having close organisational and ideological links to RSS), Narendra Modi is also a member of a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, focussing on the Hindu supremacy and ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.
Prime Minister Imran Khan informed the world community of the various atrocities, carried out by the Indian security forces against the innocent people of Kashmir, including the arrests of thousands of Kashmiri politicians/leaders, putting about 8 million Kashmiris under continuous curfew, ban on internet and other means of communications, forced/enforced disappearances of around 13,000 boys, the killings of 100,000 Kashmiri people and the rape of 11,000 women in the past 30 years, sending 180,000 more troops to Kashmir bringing the total number of Indian troops to 900,000 and treating the people of Kashmir worse than animals.
He clearly unfolded the anti-Muslim campaign of Muslim genocide in India, in general and Kashmir, in particular, launched and conducted by Narendra Modi, in order to let the dream of BJP and RSS come true by proving and manifesting Hindu Supremacy in India and around the world.
The world was warned about the serious consequences far beyond the borders of inhuman, barbaric, wicked, evil and cruel acts of the Indian security forces against the people of Kashmir, which could lead to a war between two rival nuclear-armed countries (India and Pakistan). Premier Imran Khan also drew the attention of the world leaders towards the potential strong and intensive reaction to the Indian atrocities from the people of Kashmir, the 180 million Indian Muslims and the 1.3 billion Muslims around the world.
The people of the world were also reminded to stand up for humanity instead of remaining as silent spectators by avoiding the wrath and anger of India for benefiting from the 1.2 billion Indian Trade/Market in the global business.
More importantly, PM Imran Khan reminded the United Nations several times in his speech about its obligations to fulfil its promise of guaranteeing the people of Kashmir their ‘Right of Self-determination’ and keeping the world safe from the risk and peril of a nuclear conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours over the Issue of Kashmir.
Last but not least, Imran Khan made the stand/stance of Pakistan over Kashmir quite clear by standing up for the struggle of the people of Kashmir for getting them their right of self-determination by any possible means, including a peaceful solution of the problem, supporting the people of Kashmir and even to fight to the end, if needed. He chose to go for the option ‘Fight’ instead of ‘Flight/Surrender’ when this comes to the situation of ‘Fight-or-Flight’. Accordingly, he sent a clear message of solidarity to the people of Kashmir and a signal of warning to both India and the world community about the unfavourable, unpleasant and serious consequences of human rights abuses and violations, conducted by India in Kashmir.
Qasim Swati is a freelance journalist, writer and human rights activist, based in the UK, and can be reached at https://qasimswati.com or mailto:info@qasimswati.com.
