Muslims will rise against India: Imran Khan
Khan made the remarks while addressing a rally of several thousand people in PoK capital Muzaffarabad, which was organised as part of the Pakistan government’s protests every Friday against India’s August 5 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
The situation in Kashmir will drive more of the world’s Muslims towards extremism and people “will rise against India”, Prime Minister Imran Khan said during a speech in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Friday.
Khan made the remarks while addressing a rally of several thousand people in PoK capital Muzaffarabad, which was organised as part of the Pakistan government’s protests every Friday against India’s August 5 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
“When atrocities get to their peak, people would prefer that death is better than this insulting life,” Khan said in the televised speech. “I want to tell India that by detaining thousands of people, you are pushing people into extremism.
“People will rise against India, and it is not just about Indian Muslims, there are 1.25 billion Muslims around the world. They all are watching this.”
Khan said he would defend the cause of the Kashmiris when he attends the UN General Assembly in New York next week. He urged the international community to pressure India to give Kashmiris the right of self-determination.
“The reason for me becoming an ambassador of the Kashmiri people is that I am a Pakistani, a Muslim and a human,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction to Khan’s remarks from Indian officials.
Khan also urged people in PoK not to approach the Line of Control (LoC) but to wait for his call and allow him to take up the Kashmir issue in New York. His comments came days after youths marched toward the LoC to protest the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering clashes with police.
Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Khan told the rally that only a coward could commit cruelty toward human beings and alleged Indian soldiers were committing atrocities against the Kashmiris.
“A brave man can never do this. No matter how much injustice you commit, you will never succeed because the people of Kashmir, be it women, children or the elderly, are not scared of death anymore,” he said.
He added, “We all should know that Modi has been a member of the RSS since he was a child. It is a Hindu extremist group and they hate Muslims, Christians and all minorities.”
India has described the changes in Kashmir as an internal matter and said Pakistan has no locus standi on the issue. With Pakistan’s leadership claiming that the situation in Kashmir could trigger a war, New Delhi has accused Islamabad of using the issue to support jehad and cross-border terrorism.
Khan said his government had succeeded in internationalising the Kashmir issue. The UN Security Council had held a meeting on Kashmir for the first time in 50 years and the European Union had said the issue should be resolved according to UN resolutions, he said.
“More than 40 MPs in Britain raised the Kashmir issue. I am happy that US senators wrote a letter to President Donald Trump and urged him to intervene in the matter,” he added.