PM Imran Khan writes for NYT, urges the world to act on Kashmir

Prime Minister Imran Khan has written an article in The New York Times on India’s illegal annexation of Occupied Kashmir urging the world to act before ” two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation”.

The premier, in the article, not only apprised the readers of India’s illegal move in Kashmir and the treatment being meted out to the people of the valley to suppress the freedom movement.

“On Aug. 5, in its most brazen and egregious move, Mr. Modi’s government altered the status of Indian-occupied Kashmir through the revocation of Article 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution. The move is illegal under the Constitution of India, but more importantly, it is a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and the Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan.

And Mr. Modi’s “New India” chose to do this by imposing a military curfew in Kashmir, imprisoning its population in their homes and cutting off their phone, internet and television connections, rendering them without news of the world or their loved ones. The siege was followed by a purge: Thousands of Kashmiris have been arrested and thrown into prisons across India. A blood bath is feared in Kashmir when the curfew is lifted. Already, Kashmiris coming out in defiance of the curfew are being shot and killed,” the PM wrote.

He also wrote how his government made every possible attempt to reach out to Indian government for dialogue but the BJP government not only responded negatively to them but instead replied with accusations.

“Evidently Mr. Modi had mistaken our desire for peace in a nuclear neighborhood as appeasement. We were not simply up against a hostile government. We were up against a ‘New India’ which is governed by leaders and a party that are the products of the Hindu supremacist mother ship, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the R.S.S,” wrote Imran Khan.

He concluded by urging the world to rise above trade interests and act on Kashmir and also made it clear that Pakistan is ready for all sorts of talks for world peace.

“It is imperative that the international community think beyond trade and business advantages. World War II happened because of appeasement at Munich. A similar threat looms over the world again, but this time under the nuclear shadow,” the PM concluded.

It is pertinent to note here that, in a speech to the Pakistani nation on August 26, the PM had also warned that the world should act on Kashmir before it is too late. He also shed light upon why he thinks BJP is following the RSS ideology and why talks are the only solution to peace between Pakistan and India.