Glasglow: Asserting that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) has been suffering for the past 73 years under Pakistan colonialism, human rights activist Amjad Ayub Mirza on Wednesday urged the US President-elect Joe Biden to “heal” the “wounded people and divide people” of PoK and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
“Mr President-elect, we have been suffering for the past 73 years under the Pakistan colonialism. And now since, China’s Belt and Road initiative has encroached into our land of Gilgit Baltistan we face double colonisation of Pakistan and China. And the uncanny military and economic relation between Pakistan and China make this issue more pressing,” said Mirza, who is from Mirpur in PoK and is living in exile in the UK.
While talking about his problems as a representative of Gilgit Baltistan, he said that given the US President-elect position, Biden is best suited to intervene in their matter and help resolve the issues.
“Mr President-elect you have been hailed as a healer and a unifier. We the people of PoK, Gilgit Baltistan people are wounded people and divided people. And I think there is no better person than yourself at the international level who should intervene and help heal our wound,” he added.
This video message came a day after Mirza wrote to Biden on Monday urging him to “forcefully ask” Islamabad to withdraw its troops and non-state actors from the region.
In a letter to Biden, Mirza had said that Pakistan has turned the PoK into a training ground dotted with camps where young people and aliens (foreign nationals) are trained to become terrorists, who are then frequently infiltrated across the border into Indian union territory of Kashmir to cause havoc.
Mirza has requested Biden to grant him an audience at the White House so that he can present the case of illegal occupation by Pakistan in person.
“I am asking for your support in resolving the issue on a war footing and forcefully ask Pakistan to withdraw its troops and non-state actors from our lands, a demand that has been echoing thought he UN resolutions. I request you to grant us an audience at the White House so that we can present our case to you in person,” it added.
The activist listed Pakistan’s atrocities on the people living in the PoK. He said during cross-border firing, women in the region refuse to take shelter in the bunkers as they complain of being molested by the Pakistan army, and human rights activists are kidnapped and murdered.
“Sentences of 40, 60 and 90 years imprisonment have been awarded to our environmentalists who oppose the diversion of the rivers for construction of mega-dams under Chinese dictates, and dozens of human rights activists are languishing in prisons for raising their voice for the lack of civil liberties. For every 25 people living in Gilgit-Baltistan, one Pakistani armed soldier has been deployed. Hence under the circumstances, our people are faced with the worst kind of terror in modern-day and age,” the letter stated.
“As we trot the globe in search of a bowl of rice, Pakistan has turned our land into training ground dotted with camps where our young people and aliens are trained to become terrorists, who are then frequently infiltrated across the border into Indian union territory of Kashmir to cause havoc,” it added.
Mirza had said that it has been established beyond doubt that Pakistan is the aggressor and the people of PoK are the “real victims” in the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
He also pointed to the impact of the expansion of Chinese imperialism in the region which has resulted in the “uncanny” control of China on the land in the PoK.
“We are Indian citizens living under the colonial occupation of Pakistan. Furthermore, since the expansion of Chinese imperialism in the region our land in Pakistani occupied Gilgit-Baltistan has come under the uncanny control of China through her partnership with Pakistan in the Belt and Road Initiative that runs through our occupied land. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it is referred to, is a project that has brought our occupied territory under the double colonial rule of Pakistan and China,” he noted.