There are no terrorist launch pads in AJK: President Masood Khan

Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan talked with members of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and the Foreign Policy Research Institute here on Friday.

He said that there were no terrorist launch pads in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and categorically rejected Ajit Doval’s arbitrary claim of terrorist being readied on AJKs side to fight in IOK.

The AJK president was speaking on the topic “From the front-lines of a Nuclear Flash Point” at the historic Union League building.

The event was hosted by Raza Bukhari and moderated by Craig Snyder said a press release received here on Friday.

In his opening remarks, the AJK President affirmed that there is no terrorism in IOK and the current uprising is indigenous and led by the tormented people of Kashmir.

He went on to say that “The only terrorism in IOK is the state sponsored terrorism perpetrated by the Indian government against the innocent and unarmed people of Kashmir”.

The president said that unilateral steps taken by the Indian government on August 5 were illegal and in violations of international conventions like the Fourth Geneva Convention Additional Protocol- I and the ICC statutes.

India has tried to change the disputed status of Kashmir and is now trying to colonize it, he added.

Describing abrogated Article 370 of Indian constitution a ‘Faustian Pact’ between Nehru and Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah, Sardar Masood Khan said the piece of legislation was inserted in the constitution to get popular support in Kashmir.

On the other hand, Article 35-A predates the independence of India and it guaranteed the provision of education, employment and immovable property to the people of Kashmir.