Mujahid Talks with Imam Malik Mujahid in conversation with President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Masood Khan
Interviewed: 11 AM Central Time Monday Nov 30. only on Muslim Network TV #Kashmir #OIC #Pakistan #India
Guests: Masood Khan - President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir - Former Diplomat
Host: Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid -- President of Sound Vision and Justice for All.
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Unoffical Transcript:
Abdul Malik Mujahid 00:03
Salam alaikum peace. You're watching Muslim network TV on galaxy 19 satellite covers, USA, Canada and Mexico coast to coast is to us not to sound all over 57 million subscribers there. And we also stream on OTT devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV. And of course, you can download Muslim network TV app on your iPhone and Android and watch us there 24 seven, our website is Muslim network.tv. Last year, India was quite a bit in the news. And as it reinvaded Kashmir, occupying it once again and this time dividing it up in bits and pieces. And then allowing all that 1 million army entered civilian forces from all around India to actually settle and change the demographics of Kashmir. And this is not the first time India is doing it. It has done it. The Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu Muslim used to be a majority also just like Kashmir. But India took a lot of refugees promising them to take them to safe refuge in Pakistan. But the time they reached Pakistan only a few hundred people were left hundreds and thousands were lost. Where in the world. This is some documentary need to be just about those people. And gradually they keep working on it a couple of years ago, a little girl eight year old. She was kidnapped and taken to a Hindu temple with the and the priest there. A police officer and a couple of other people raped her. They wanted to kill her the same day. But one of the rapist said to keep her alive for a couple more days so he can keep raping her. That eight year old baby her body was found in the clothes outside the temple. And when Kashmir stood up, and some people in India human rights activist spoke for her and case to be filed. When brave Hindu attorney was moving towards the court, there was a big group of people shouting slogans not in support of that little girl. But in support of the rapist and they were part of the Hindu fascist party, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP case was file culprits were finally punished. Through those documents. We came to know this was their plot that once they rape that little girl, people will move away. Guess what happened? Muslim from that little place left that town. This is one of the strategy to take Muslim presence completely out of Jammu and Kashmir which is occupied by India. Today we are honored to have a person who himself is a Kashmiri who has dedicated his life for the cause of Kashmir and currently is the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, independent Kashmir. His name is Sardar Masood Khan, Salam alaikum
Sardar Masood Khan, 04:12
walaikum salam
Abdul Malik Mujahid 04:14
Welcome to Muslim network TV Sardar Khan, how you doing today? I heard that in Azad Kashmir. Also there is a lockdown and people cannot move around.
Sardar Masood Khan, 04:27
Yes, it's a smart lockdown. But it is working. Because after the second wave of Coronavirus, we had many fatalities and we wanted to stand them and that's why this lockdown has been reimposed. We've done well. fatalities are low infections are low. But with the onset of the winter season, casualties were increasing. So that's why we had to take this mesh.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 04:55
Well. We pray for the safety of people there who are Have constantly state of anxiety because what India is doing, how many time India bombs, Azad Kashmir.
Sardar Masood Khan, 05:11
Well to be exact more than 2700 times, this year law 2020, it has been one of the bloodiest years for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who live on this side of the line of control. And scores have been killed, hundreds have been injured. and India uses cluster munitions, artillery, and many other lethal weapons to target civilians. I mean, this is their considered policy, that on this side of the line of control, they target civilians, they do not engage military positions directly. But when we retaliate, when our soldiers retaliate, they avoid civilian targets and they try to zero in on the military targets, because we consider the people living on that side of the line of control our own citizens, and therefore, the restraint in our in our policies.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 06:14
What do you were to release these numbers when the recent last couple of days when the Organization of Islamic countries met in Niger?
Sardar Masood Khan, 06:27
Yes, indeed, it's about a factor. I made an intervention there I spoke to the foreign ministers assembled in the army in the chair. And I shared the agony and pain and suffering of the people of Kashmir I told assembly, how the people in Jammu and Kashmir occupied Jammu and Kashmir. were being targeted by India's 900,000 troops, by the way, and your synopsis of the tragic situation in Kashmir was excellent. And these are your introductory remarks. You summed it up, and you then supplemented it with the heart rending anecdote. So we share the agony and suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir with the foreign minister. We told that Kashmiris were being subjected to genocide, a systematic genocide. They were killings every day there were instances of rape. used as an instrument of war. We also talked about enforced disappearances at this fake encounters, and then arbitrary detention of thousands of people who are being tortured in concentration camps and prisons in the occupied territory and in northern India. So we all pretend that Kashmiris were the worst victim of state terrorism state sponsored terrorism. The sponsor the terrorism sponsored by India, its extremist ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party supported by Rashtriya swayamsevak, Sungh RSS and other violent extremist organizations. We also told them that the worst hotspot of Islamophobia, or anti Islamism is in the occupied Jammu Kashmir, because Muslims are being killed by the occupation forces and by these RSS operatives in the occupied territory simply because they're Muslims. So, this is genocide in accordance with the definition gave by the convention, the 1948 convention on genocide. We also told them, that the India is practicing what is called settler colonialism. And in the past four months, for instance, I can tell you that they have transferred Hindus from all over India, and they have illegally settled them in the occupied territory, they are issuing these domicile certificates, illegal domicile certificates to the outsiders, non Kashmiris, basically Hindus inside the occupied territory, so that they can change the demographic composition of the territory. Now, this is I mean, if you if you go to any international instrument, this whole array of international laws, international humanitarian law genocide related to genocide or ethnic cleansing or war crimes, they are being perpetrated in the Indian occupied territory in in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. We share these details. In fact, by we are also reassured that many of the foreign ministers spoke up for the Kashmiris and called out India, the conference that was held in Asia.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 09:57
What was the reaction in the local media of that country about the Kashmir issue did they do people in Africa by and large know what Kashmir is? And what are the challenges being faced by Kashmir?
Sardar Masood Khan, 10:15
Well, I would say that Africa is preoccupied with African issues, Niger itself with the challenges of terrorism and also peace and development. There's also a crisis kind of an environmental crisis in the Sahara, and they have their own problems. But at the same time, they were sympathetic to the plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and we're ready to help out. And the foreign minister of Nicosia spoke about the plight of the countries. The host country, of course, spoke about the plight of the Kashmiris and I had an opportunity to speak to the Newseum media before the commencement of the conference. And they were quite receptive. There was a television network, their largest newspaper there with the largest circulation, so I was able to put across our message. Yeah. I would also like to highlight the knizia has been the founding member of the icy contact group in Jammu and Kashmir. So, its support to the Kashmir course, to the right to self determination of for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and an end to egregious human rights violations. There has been very, very steadfast so and other Muslim countries, Nigeria, for instance, Morocco, Tunisia, on or Egypt all have been cognizant of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. And they've been supportive over the years over the decades.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 11:50
You mentioned these countries, but what I noticed there you did not mentioned so the Arabian Gulf countries who have gradually a higher level of relationship, it seems looking at the US media with India, was there any role played by traditional Pakistan allies, like in the Gulf countries?
Sardar Masood Khan, 12:20
one of the prominent features of this conference was that the Saudi Foreign Minister, Mr. President, beforehand, he made a reference a strong reference to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and in fact, he was speaking as a Saudi Foreign Minister, but at the same time on behalf of the ISIS summit, because right now, so the Arabia is the chairman of the vices summit. The summit was held last year in Makkah, before the actions illegal actions taken by India on August the fifth. So delivering that statement, the Saudi Foreign Minister said that, without the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, there can't be any peace in South Asia. This was a welcome speech, because after August 5 2019, Saudi Arabia had been reticent, rather reticent, it had been supported. Whether we were passing the resolution in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session, or in the contact group meetings, which were held, virtually there was a content group meeting which was held virtually some months ago. It was supportive, but people of Pakistan, we're hoping that Saudi Arabia would come up with a robust statement, and it did deliver that robust statement in Malaysia, and therefore, many misgivings were removed. UAE did not speak. But we also say this to so Arabia and UAE, that if you have good relations with India, and if you have economic and investment ties with India, then use your clout and influence with India to stop massacres and genocide in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, because, yes, you're killing Muslims, but they are human beings to now you can't invoke your Hindu to a doctrine to kill a whole population to eliminate and I handed them so I think that we can use their diplomatic clout. But this statement by Saudi ambassador was so the foreign minister was important both substantively and symbolically.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 14:41
You're watching Muslim network TV and we're talking with the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan . We'll be right back after these messages.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 15:17
Welcome back to Muslim network TV. This is Imam Malik Mujahid and I'm talking with President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan Couple of years ago. You know, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner came up with a report, just first time after a very long period of time that united nations have any report on Kashmir. And since then, there seems to be a level of silence has the world accepted. By and large what India is doing in the Indian occupied Kashmir.
Sardar Masood Khan, 16:00
You're referring to the two reports which were issued by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The High Commissioner at that time, said rather than saying, Our Jordanian Prince and a man who believed in principles, and ocean protection of human rights all over the world. So in 2018, and 2019, he released these two seminal reports, which made an impact. And when the new hire Commissioner Michelle Baca lay, assumed her office assumed a position. She owned those two reports by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. And these were the first two reports, the first two historic reports by the United Nations, any United Nations agency on human rights situation in cushy course, non governmental organizations or human rights organizations, like Human Rights Watch, or Amnesty International, or Asia watch or positions for human rights. They've been publishing these reports about grave human rights violations in Kashmir, but not the United Nations. So this was a breakthrough. But let me also point out that, since those two reports are published, there hasn't been silence as a matter where the world has not been silent. And I'll explain why I'm saying that, because you are also partly to what you're saying is partially true. Now, let me tell you that these two reports and one of the reports that's 2018 reports, in fact, the European Union, it's a it's a European Parliament's Human Rights Committee, they held a hearing. And the presentation was given by the person who drafted that report in Geneva. But after August, the fifth, you know, the whole world woke up to the horrendous situation. And there's criminal developments that were taking place in the occupied territory, I can tell you that the European Parliament, for instance, held a plenary session. And there were many committees who were very active, the British Parliament, the French parliament, the US Congress, uncharacteristically held a series of hearings. And there were statements, bipartisan statements, both by Republicans, senators and congressmen and democratic congressmen and senators who, yes, who, as a benefactor can express their concern about the situation in the occupied territory. So then the international media, you know, how conservative the Western media is, the American newspapers always tilted towards India. But last year, they cast aside that kind of caution or their propensity to side with India, and called out India. This is what happened. I mean, I'm talking about the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, New York Times, also European papers, French papers, telecom networks all around the world, there was an uproar. As a matter of fact, network after network, and a media house after media house. The full editorial board wrote editorials condemning India's atrocities in the US and you use the right terms reinvasion and reoccupation of the
Sardar Masood Khan, 19:35
Indian territory as it is happening right now. But the tragedy was that these messages which are emanating from the parliaments or from the media houses, and were widely broadcast, they did not reach their executive offices, like for instance, the President of the United States of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, or the european union leadership. They would only make very ambivalent statements, which did not disrupt their balanced relationship with India and Pakistan in the process. The Kashmir issue would appear disappear from the radar screen. So, the tragedy is not that the world did not speak up. In fact, we got unusual and unprecedented coverage on the Kashmir issue last year, and the entire world community came to know about the tragic developments taking place in Kashmir and fascist activities that were being pursued by the Indian violent extremists, Indian fascists. But the government's because they have close ties with Western governments in particular, because they have close ties with India, economic ties, strategic ties, they want to use India as a pawn to slow down the rise of China. So these are the strategic considerations, economic considerations, because the Western countries think that India is a good destination for their investment and a lucrative market for their products. So that's why they do not speak up. I've been to many Parliament's I mean, I went to the US Congress, I've been to a European Parliament, talk to the lawmakers they are and they're very cautious because their governments would not dare speak up against India, due to the profits or and strategic interests that are tied with India. But people are speaking up as I speak to you today they are they're really exposing India's real designs. And I would say I mean, I know how hard you working and you are a very perceptive intellectual. Let me tell you that last century, the world, the Western world, I mean, the United Kingdom, France, others, they try to apiece, Hitler and Mussolini and you saw the result, a devastating Whoa, a Holocaust and violation of all international human rights there. There was an Armageddon there. Now, precisely that is what is being repeated here in India, there is a President of India and they do not want to be on the wrong side of India, India's influence within the United States is increasing exponentially. And this is emboldening India. So, I think that if the West continues to underwrite India's crimes against humanity, and genocide, in the north by Jammu and Kashmir, we will all have to pay a price.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 22:58
Let's share with our viewers what exactly is Azad Jammu and Kashmir when it came into being how it came into being?
Sardar Masood Khan, 23:13
Well, we'll have to have to go back to 1947. In fact, in June, it had decided that there would be two states in India or in South Asia at that time, because the British were leaving India and these two states were India and Pakistan, there were more than 560 princely states and they were given the option to join India or Pakistan. They were also given the third option to be independent, but it was shelved later on, because of the council given by Lord Mountbatten to the princess or the rulers of these states. Now, the principle was the principle one was geographic contiguity and the other was the population the composition of the population. So Kashmir was geographically contiguous to Pakistan, and its population some 85% of the people there, what Muslims and their natural aspiration was to join Pakistan. India resorted to all sorts of military and political maneuvers to block the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Let me tell you that on July the 19th 1947, at the resident of Sadat, Mohammed Ibrahim Khan in Sri Durga, the under the banner of the all Jammu Kashmir Muslim conference, the entire population of Jammu and Kashmir decided that they would accede to Pakistan. But and mind you this was done one month before they almost one month before the Creation of Pakistan disorder resolved with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. So, but to frustrate this will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and India first sent in these troops from patiyala Kapurthala, East Punjab, to beef up the forces of the Maharaja of Kashmir at a time to brutalize people to crush their will. And, but the people of Azad Kashmir, the people of Azad Kashmir, in fact, from all over Germany, which they waged a war of independence, war of freedom against the Maharajas room, and they were quite successful, they were able to liberate this territory, which we call a South Kashmir and they had reached near Srinagar as a matter of fact they were bound to capture sugar when India landed its troops on Srinagar airport on October the 27th. This territory which was liberated at that time by the founding fathers and our independence leaders, was called the Azhar state of Jammu and Kashmir. And this was a temporary state because, the motto when the resolve of the state was to liberate the remaining territory also, which was under occupation first under the occupation of the Maharaja, and later under the occupation of India. Similarly, the people of gilgit Baltistan in the month of November they fought a war of independence on their own and they liberated that territory So, Azad Kashmir, when you say Azad state of Jammu and Kashmir, it is not just Azad Kashmir, we represent constitutionally and legally the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir the state which is under Indian occupation, and the state which is free. In Azad Kashmir. You have all the trappings of a sovereign state you have a president, you have a prime minister, you have bicameral legislature, you have a Kashmir Council and you have the Legislative Assembly, you have two tiered, higher judiciary, you have the Supreme Court and the High Court, our population is about 4.2 million people, the population gilgit Baltistan is nearly 2 million, the total area that we have Azad Kashmir and gilgit Baltistan combined should be about 86,000 square kilometers. And but when you combine all the parts a lot dark and Jammu and Kashmir in the valley of Kashmir, the total area is 85,000 square miles, or let's say 222,000 square kilometers, and the population is 20 million. So this is the population that we are talking about. This is the territory that we are talking about. It's not a small population. It's not a small territory. And it is probably the only state in the world The only people or the only population in the world. As mentioned in the United Nations Charter, we the peoples who haven't
Sardar Masood Khan, 28:16
spoken up who haven't exercised their right to determine their statement. And the affiliation to Pakistan is without a doubt very strong and steadfast.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 28:34
Is there any any other countries who have recognized independent status of Azad Jammu and Kashmir?
Sardar Masood Khan, 28:45
No, because we'll have to go back to the early 1949. And at that time, there was an agreement between Azad Kashmir and the Federation of Pakistan. And four functions have been given to the state of Pakistan. These are foreign affairs, defense, currency and matters related to United Nations onset resolutions, as they are called. There was a United Nations Commission on Indian Pakistan. So these four responsibilities have been given to the state of Pakistan. And that's why Pakistan is a sovereign window for all of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the rest of the international community. We have a separate flat, we have a separate constitution, but we do not have a sovereign persona as such. And that's why when I went to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, their foreign ministers conference, I represented myself as the leader of the two Representatives of the Kashmiri people. So that explains our, our state, that all the trappings of a state but External Affairs, defense, currency and financial matters basically. And United Nations resolutions are the responsibility of the state of Pakistan. That said, we go around, we talk to people, we reach out to power corridors all around the world whether they are parliamentarians government functionaries, or civil society activists, think tanks, human rights organizations. There are no limitations as far as this kind of outreach is concerned.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 30:46
You're watching Muslim network TV. This is a Imam Malik Mujahid and I have the honor of talking with the president of independent Jamu n Kashmir, Sardar, Masood Khan. And we'll be right back after these messages.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 31:30
Welcome back to Muslim network TV. This is Imam Malik Mujahid talking with President Sardar Masood Khan of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. I was talking to a journalist from India, and I was surprised to hear that he is a Kashmiri from Indian occupied Kashmir and his daughter actually studies in Pakistan. So does Pakistan allow people in the occupied Indian Kashmir to come to Pakistan and his study there?
Sardar Masood Khan, 32:05
Of course, why not? our doors are open or University's doors are open to Kashmiri students. And we consider them to be our children, our brothers and sisters. And we welcome them with open arms. And we give them scholarships. We welcome them in our education institutions, most of the students who come from the occupied territory, they enroll in medical colleges, or medical universities, or other technical disciplines. But there are many, many students from the Indian occupied territory starting in South Kashmir as well, in addition to the, to the Pakistani institutions.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 32:49
So do they go back then? serve in occupied Kashmir, are they stay here?
Sardar Masood Khan, 32:56
Some of them stay there. Others go back? I mean, it's quite common that students go back to their homes and their home times a in the summer or winter vacations. So yes, this kind of this kind of, I would say. confidence building measure continues, despite all the disruptions.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 33:22
How many? How many refugees, Kashmiri refugees are in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.
Sardar Masood Khan, 33:33
Well, according to conservative estimates, back in 1947, some four to 500,000 refugees from the Indian origin between and must have come to South Kashmir and Pakistan and most of them migrated to Pakistan and settled there, some of them even migrated from Pakistan. So the bulk of these refugees from was from Germany, as you mentioned in your introductory remarks, in November was a bloody month November 1947, was a bloody months for the people of Germany. At that time, the percentage of Muslims in Jammu was 61%. But because of this massacre, which took place in November, October, November, the month of October, November 1947 237,000. Muslims are massacre Justin. This was the first Holocaust after the Second World War, but it has been swept under the carpet. And then there was a program some 350,000 to 500,000 estimates vary, and you have conflicting statistics, but roughly This is the rain. they migrated to Azad Kashmir and Pakistan but they then were absorbed and integrated into the general population. But then after 1989 after the uprising of 1989 in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in response to Indian brutalities there and massive pole rigging election, bringing that there was a fresh wave of refugees, and their number is 40,000. I'm sure about that. Because they are in refugee camps in Muzaffarabad, in bog and in Maple division, all over Azad Kashmir. And these refugees, their camps are being maintained by the Assad government and by the armed forces of Pakistan. So we haven't sought the help of the UNHCR. So this is the number. And the last figure that I gave you is a certain figure, it's a definite figure. The earlier picture that I gave was a ballpark figure.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 36:01
So are these refugees in Azad Kashmir, Azad, Jammu and Kashmir, are they organized in a way to speak up for their cause and compaign for going back? And what about the rights of those people who came in 1947? They have properties and livelihood in Kashmir, have they documented what they left behind? And do they have any plan of filing their claims against the occupying forces, because their property and all that were forcefully taken because they were forced to leave their indigenous land?
Sardar Masood Khan, 36:47
Well, documentation at that point was very weak. But when the refugees came to Assad, Kashmir, Pakistan, they were given properties as for their claims, so but these 40,000 refugees who are in the camps right now, and they of course, have better documentation about their properties back home, but they have no hope to retrieve them. They aspire to go back to their homes and towns. But no, you know, before these bloody developments before this illegal these the series of illegal activities that were started by India last year, we had confidence building measures to confidence building measures, one was to reunite divided families across the line of control. So this was a good practice. The other was best petition of goods and some restricted list of products that were identified by both sides, but because of the escalation of violence in be knocked by Jammu and Kashmir and the horrendous crimes that India has committed inside the occupied territory. This practice has been discarded for the time being. So but one thing that I must say is that right now the civil society, in the Indian awkward, Yamanashi is quite active, quite vigilant. And despite all the restrictions and communication blockade, and this espionage from the Indian agents, and operatives and brutalization by the occupation forces, Kashmiri organizations are collecting data and disseminating it, about disappearances, for instance, about incarcerations, about disappearance of children. And the impact of these black laws is draconian laws, like the PSA, the Public Safety Act or the unlawful activities Prevention Act of armed forces special Powers Act, because they, they give full impunity to the marauding troops to commit crimes against humanity there and they enjoy immunity from prosecution. So these facts are available and the primary source for the collision collection and analysis or work. These facts are the Kashmiris that says
Abdul Malik Mujahid 39:34
you mentioned in here just this year has more than 2000 attacks on Azad Jammu and Kashmir and mostly targeting the civilians there. How can these things are I mean, I know the Indian invasion reinvasion of Kashmir was covered in the media and all that but these type of information that India is attacking in this particular manner is not much in the news. So I would like to know, what is the media operations of Assad, independent government of Jammu and Kashmir?
Sardar Masood Khan, 40:16
Well, we try our best. As a matter of fact, we have a media setup, we have the public sector set up for disseminating information. But we also work in tandem with the Pakistani media houses and Pakistani media setup, government Media Center. But frankly, I'll admit that we try our best, but we got broadcast our message, we can't project our narrative as effectively as we should, because of the bias towards the international because of the bias towards India, and against Muslims, because in the West, sometimes people think that Muslims are troubled. And first, black reflexive action reaction is the thing that if this Muslim land, and if there is something happening, there are Muslims possibly responsible. And that's why India gets away with murder. It is committing terrorism in Kashmir, and yet it presents to the world community. It presents itself to the world community as a victim, that it is fighting terrorism, there is no terrorism there in Kashmir. So your point basically, is that whether or not we are able to broadcast our narrative, effectively, I would say that we have to really work hard to reach out to the Western audiences and Western people. Because I have come to the conclusion that because of real policy can because of these vested interests that I talked about a short while ago, the Western countries and the western forums or West centric forums, including the United Nations Security Council, are not going to speak up for the Kashmiris or come to the rescue of the Kashmiris. And therefore, we have to transform this movement, the Kashmir freedom movement into what we would call an International Civil Rights Movement, like the civil rights movement in the United States, or like the movement against apartheid in South Africa, or like the international movement against Vietnam War. And when genocide on this scale, is being committed in the occupied territory, the entire international community should be attentive. It is not just Yes, please
Abdul Malik Mujahid 42:51
Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. President. India, of course, has internet blockade of its occupied territory, you can get only one or two g signals, so they cannot transmit any pictures and news and things of this nature. And they do not allow you in the US congressperson or senators to go there. So news coming from inside Kashmir has substantially limited but when you Google, Google News, news dot google and things like that, even the news about Azad Kashmir comes through the Indian sources. So if there are, you know why there are not major portals, major papers, major independent youtubers in Kashmir, who is speaking up for those people who are not allowed to speak because I am assuming that the Kashmir which you're president of does have a full fledged signal of internet right or wrong?
Sardar Masood Khan, 44:01
We do we have G3 and G4 for and so we're doing well. And we have reason fundamental freedoms
Abdul Malik Mujahid 44:11
so if those things are properly fed to Google, and you can address Google on that and also so news at this moment about Kashmir is controlled by the Indian indigenous outlets which are in India, not in Kashmir. They have different websites, which has news items and that reflects in the aggregation of the news.google.com. While Kashmiri news since they cannot have they don't have beyond one or two g they cannot communicate the story. So so you your country, your independent Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir seems to have more of a responsibility because the news at this moment After that high has started going down. So So I hope that you know, I heard that Azad Jammu and Kashmir has a very high level of literacy. So it means they are able to produce their own media, their content of his things like that. So what are the future plans for a bigger voice in the free internet realm, which comes into being from Azad, Jammu and Kashmir,
Sardar Masood Khan, 45:29
you know, setting in Chicago and in the United States, you would know that you need your own ecosystem to broadcast your news, because other systems are biased against you that they have their own perspectives, that's better. But I'm not using it as an excuse, you have made a valid point, let me tell you that this process of reaching out to the rest of the world, through the internet, to social media portals through television networks has started here. It is at an embryonic stage. And we have setbacks. We are on a learning curve, as a matter of fact, and we are forging ahead. But sometimes when our portals or our social media users become hyperactive, and because they're on a learning curve, their accounts closed, shut up. Because of this repetitive mention of pushmeet, they usually sociated it with terrorism, or they have these holy cows somewhere in India, whom they do not want to annoy at all. So that's a challenge that we are facing. In fact, we are trying to reach out to the International Telecommunication community to tell them that our truth is being muzzled. So we are trying our best we have you're absolutely right, Azad Kashmir is the most literate part of Pakistan or its population is the most literate pop up population compared to all education districts of Pakistan. That's true. And now people are becoming proficient in English also. So they have a greater connectivity at the global level. But still, I would say agreeing with you. It's a fledgling effort that we are making, and we need to strengthen our sinews in communication, because that's a big challenge. You're absolutely right, that while we are the ones who have been crushed, and our truth is being strangled, it is the victimizer it is India, the perpetrator of crimes that is getting all the reception all around the world, because they have this media network. So yes, we have started this process and I'm sure with the passage of time, we would succeed in telling the rest of the world, the true story of Kashmir
Abdul Malik Mujahid 48:15
As president of Jammu and Kashmir and how would you respond to Kashmiris in the United States who are concerned that Pakistan is going to declare Gilgit Baltistan as the as the province of Pakistan? It will sort of look quite similar to what India has done to the occupied Kashmir by dividing it up and their case in America to stand for the rights of self determination for Kashmiris overall will be hampered
Sardar Masood Khan, 48:53
You know, this question is still being debated. And in the outset, I would say that Pakistan is not going to declare gilgit Baltistan as a constitution province. There's no such intention. In fact, it's a popular demand from the people of gilgit Baltistan what they say is that 1947-48 they had liberated their territory and the territory at that time, the people of the territory had acceded to Pakistan, they sent their instruments of accession to the Government of Pakistan at that time. So Pakistan government did not respond to them. And in 2009, they were made a kind of province there is a semblance of a province already, because they have a chief minister and a governor, and they fly the flag of Pakistan, but they have not been given a provincial status in the formal sense. Now their demands are that they in fact, that they should be made province last year, I was there and I talked to To the leadership of all the political parties there, the Chief Minister at that time, and the former Chief Ministers, I went to the bar association. I also went to the Press Club. And so, and I met some intellectuals, all were unanimous that they wanted to become part part of Pakistan and Pakistan was not so keen the Government of Pakistan was not so key. Let me also tell you that the people of Azad Kashmir and the leadership here and the Hurriyat leadership, the leadership in the occupied territory, the two representatives of Kashmiris, they have been unanimous that there should be no alteration in the status of gilgit Baltistan that even if this move is very benign, it might inadvertently send a wrong signal and it could undercut the UN Security Council resolutions. But then the people of gilgit Baltistan assure us that they are as true Kashmiris as the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the people of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir are concerned. They say that, look, they also have divided families. But despite that they want closer association with Pakistan. Well, I think the solution would be that the people of Azad Kashmir and the people of the representatives of South Kashmir and the representatives of gilgit Baltistan their full spectrum, their full political spectrum should have a dialogue on the issue. In any case, I want to highlight one thing some time ago. In fact, on August 5 this year, the state of Pakistan issued a flag of Pakistan, which included the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir up to Himachal Pradesh. And because this was in retaliation to what India had done in November, the first when it had shown Azad Kashmir and gilgit gilgit Baltistan as part of the Indian federation of the Indian union. So, when that map was issued, of course, India protested but Pakistan, sticking to its principal position on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir added a caveat. It said that, well, this is the natural map of Pakistan, but it would be subject to the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Abdul Malik Mujahid 52:39
thank you so much, Sardar Masood Khan. It's pleasure to talk to you, but unfortunately, we ran out of our time. So thank you so much. So could you just give us that concluding thought which I interrupted?
Sardar Masood Khan, 52:55
Abdul Malik Mujahid 53:22
thank you so much. You're watching Muslim network TV. Thank you so much for watching us and thank you Sherdil Khan and Dr. Waheed for producing today's show. And thank you, Mr. President for joining us right. from Kashmir. You have been watching Muslim network TV on galaxy 19 satellite was on fire TV, Roku, Apple TV as well as Muslim network.tv peace Salaam and stay tuned for that programs.
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