Alvi says Pakistan will continue to stand with Kashmiris as nation observes 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'

[MenInG]

As Pakistan observes Independence Day as 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' on Wednesday to express solidarity with Kashmiris and highlight their plight, President Dr Arif Alvi said that Pakistan has always stood with Kashmiris and would continue to do so.

President Dr Arif Alvi at an Independence Day ceremony in Islamabad. — DawnNewsTV
While addressing a flag hoisting ceremony at the convention centre in Islamabad, President Alvi, who was the guest of honour, said that today the world was watching how the people of Pakistan were standing with their Kashmiri brothers.

"We will not leave them alone at any step," the president said adding: "Kashmiris are our [people]. We think of their pain as our pain."

"We have remained with them, we are with them today and will continue to do so."

Various political leaders including National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan were in attendance.

Mashaal Malik, wife of detained Kashmiri leader Mohammad Yasin Malik, also addressed the event during which she shared a poem she wrote about the freedom struggle of people under Indian occupation in Kashmir.

According to Radio Pakistan, flag hoisting ceremonies will also be held in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.

The day dawned with the usual official functions and ceremonies ─ a 31-gun salute in the capital and 21-gun salutes in the provincial capitals, as well as a major event in Islamabad in which top government functionaries and armed forces' officials took part.

The changing of guards at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on Wednesday. — DawnNewsTV
Meanwhile, a change of guards ceremony was held at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi.

According to Radio Pakistan, a "smartly turned out contingent of the cadets of the Pakistan Naval Academy assumed the guards' duties," adding that Commodore Irfan Taj of the Pakistan Navy was the chief guest of the ceremony.

Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to visit Muzaffarabad today where he will address the Azad Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly.

Read: PM Imran to visit Muzaffarabad as nation observes Kashmir Solidarity Day on August 14

The provincial and district governments, as well as educational institutions and art councils, have planned a series of events in connection with Independence Day. Federal and provincial governments also illuminated important national buildings and monuments.

The government has unveiled a special logo "Kashmir banega Pakistan (Kashmir will become part of Pakistan)" lettered in red to go along with the theme of Kashmir Solidarity Day.

Earlier, in a message for Independence Day, President Alvi said that the Indian government’s unilateral move to end the special status of occupied Kashmir was a despicable conspiracy and blatant violation of the United Nations resolutions and the Simla Agreement.

The Indian government should realise that with the use of state aggression and absurd measures, the movement for freedom in occupied Kashmir could not be suppressed, he added.

dawn.com/news/1499492/alvi-says-pakistan-will-continue-to-stand-with-kashmiris-as-nation-observes-kashmir-solidarity-day

 

[szundercover]

We know a lot about Leaders who looted Pakistan but do we know about people who helped Pakistan by transferring Billions in today's values from their own Bank Accounts to Pakistan's exchequer. This is the story of some of these Greats of Pakistan who helped Jinnah run this country when there was no cash to pay even salaries of Civil Servants.

Qaid was given Blank Cheque Books by three Industrialists and Jinnah wrote:

Sir Adamji Peer Bhoi Adamjee Group of Companies - *Ten Crore*

Syed Muratab Ali Shah Pakages Group Ltd - *Five Crore*

Seth Mohd Ali Habib Habib Bank Ltd - *Three Crore*

A total of *Eighteen Crore* was deposited in Govt treasury (about Eighteen Billion if not more in today’s Money).

The young generation need to know these great peope and their great contribution towards Nation building.

Remember them when you Celebrate Pakistan Day.
thanks !

 

[Pakistanian]

Coincidentally the original Kashmir solidarity day was commemorated on the 14th of August.

 

[MenInG]

President Arif Alvi has said that India is playing with fire by revoking the special autonomy of occupied Kashmir and the same fire will eventually "burn the secularity" of the Indian state, it emerged on Saturday.

In an interview with Canadian-American media outlet Vice News, the president said the Indian government was "living in a fool's paradise" if it felt that it could improve the situation in occupied Kashmir by revoking Articles 370 and 35-A of its constitution.

India, in fact, encouraged terrorism through the constitutional changes in Kashmir for which Pakistan was not responsible, he said.

Asked whether Pakistan was disappointed that no statement had been issued after the first United Nations Security Council meeting on Kashmir in decades, Alvi said a lot of background discussions on the situation took place and that the "Kashmir issue has been internationalised after a long time".

He said India has ignored numerous Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and refuses to sit down with Pakistan to settle the dispute.

"For how long that will continue?" he said of the impasse in bilateral talks, stressing that a long time had passed since Pakistan and India entered into the Shimla Agreement of 1972. He questioned whether the world could remain quiet and keep pushing two parties to hold talks when one of them refuses to negotiate.

Related: Shimla scrapped: The Modi government rejects the very idea of talks

"I think there is a hegemonistic intent to swallow Kashmir [but] it won't happen," the president said.

He said Pakistan will continue to internationalise the issue and the people of occupied Kashmir will make clear their intention once the curfew imposed by Indian authorities in the region is lifted.

Echoing Prime Minister Imran Khan's warning, he said there was a possibility that India could stage a false-flag operation "like Pulwama" and then attack Pakistan. "But Pakistan doesn't want to start a war," he added.

Alvi said it was India that desired a war with Pakistan but that he would "strongly discourage" New Delhi from walking that route.

"India is going on a road which is very dangerous," he said, adding that Pakistan was speaking from its experience of tackling extremism when it warned New Delhi against alienating its Muslim population.

Asked how Pakistan would respond if India created the conditions for an all-out conflict, the president said Pakistan could not take everything lying down. "If India starts a war it is our right to defend ourselves," he stressed.

The president called on the international community to put pressure on India to withdraw its moves in occupied Kashmir.

The Hindu nationalist BJP government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped Kashmiris of their seven-decade-long special autonomy through a rushed presidential order on August 5. A communications blackout and heavy restrictions on movement imposed by the Indian authorities from the eve of this development entered their 20th day on Friday.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1501396/i...-will-burn-its-secularity-says-president-alvi

 

[Varun]

This can be milked for another week tops, after which it will die down.

Pakistan should have a long-term plan for Kashmir that has nothing to do with these tweets/soundbytes/media events.

And if there is one, nobody has seen it yet. Likely not even them.

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Tuesday that the entire country was united on the issue of occupied Kashmir and will give 'one message' to India on the one-year anniversary of New Delhi's August 5 move.

"There is no confusion in our emotions or direction," said the foreign minister, speaking on Geo Pakistan. "The entire country is united [on Kashmir issue] and will send one message to India [on August 5]," he added.

Read more: World not openly speaking out on Kashmir due to economic, other interests: FM Qureshi

The foreign minister said that he had invited all political parties and stakeholders, which included the PPP, PML-N and other parties' leaderships, to the Foreign Office where they will exchange views on the Kashmir issue.

"We will take the political and Kashmiri leadership into confidence regarding the issue," he stressed, adding that the Yaum-e-Istehsal event will also come under discussion during today's cabinet session.

Answering a question about Pakistan's response and what more needed to be done, the foreign minister said that the struggle to provide the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir was an ongoing one.

"See, this is a struggle and it will have its ups and downs," he said. "Our stance hasn't changed and our destination is Srinagar. The locks and chains on the Jamia Masjid Srinagar will be broken," he added.

FM Qureshi said that political activists, stakeholders and other members of the society will take part in Yaum-e-Istehsal rallies around the country tomorrow. "We will observe one-minute silence, of course, keeping in mind the SOPs due to the coronavirus pandemic," he said.

The foreign minister lashed out at the Indian government for imposing a curfew in the occupied region, saying that it had negated India's stance.

"India's stance has been buried [by its decision to impose curfew again]," he said. "It shows that the Indian rulers aren't confident that Kashmiris will agree with them, despite the government's oppression and greed tactics," he added.

India abolishes special status of occupied Kashmir

Last year on August 5, the Indian government rushed through a presidential decree to abolish Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Indian occupied Kashmir, as tensions mounted in the disputed valley with unprecedented numbers of Indian troops deployed in the region.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced a resolution to scrap Article 370 in Rajya Sabha, which revoked the special status granted to occupied Kashmir and made the state a Union Territory with the legislature.

The occupied valley has been bifurcated into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and Ladakh, which will be without a legislature, the home minister had said, amid uproar from the opposition in the Upper House.

What are Articles 370 and 35A?

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is a 'temporary provision' which grants special autonomous status to occupied Kashmir. All the provisions of the Constitution which are applicable to other states are not applicable to occupied Kashmir.

According to this article, except for defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications, the Indian Parliament needs the state government's concurrence for applying all other laws. The residents of occupied Kashmir, therefore, live under a separate set of laws as compared to Indian citizens elsewhere in the country, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights.

Article 35A which stems from Article 370 was introduced through a Presidential Order in 1954. This article empowers the legislature of occupied Kashmir to define the state’s permanent residents and their special rights and privileges.

Under Article 35A, Indian citizens from other states cannot purchase land or property in occupied Kashmir.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/301109-pakistan-to-give-a-united-message-to-india-on-august-5-fm-qureshi