Kashmiri activist Qureshi objects to Chinese presence in Gilgit
Baltistan.
Strongly objecting to the
Chinese presence in Gilgit Baltistan, prominent Kashmiri writer and
international human rights activist Junaid Qureshi has demanded the release of
Baba Jan.
Speaking
at an event on 'China in Gilgit Baltistan; Its
Implications', organized during the 32nd Session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council in Geneva yesterday, Qureshi said Pakistan keeps unleashing terror in
the region.
"China's
presence in Gilgit Baltistan stirred up more than China and Pakistan would want
the world to believe. Human rights
violations are the order of the day in the region while the State of Pakistan
keeps operating and unleashing terror with total impunity. The Anti -Terrorism
Act is being used to silence voices of justified dissent," he said.
Qureshi
strongly condemned the arrest, inhuman torture and 40 years imprisonment of
Baba Jan and his associates on fabricated charges of terrorism.
"Baba
Jan is being prosecuted as he organized protests against the selling-off of all
the natural resources of the region to Chinese companies and challenged the
forcible occupation of 2,800 square miles of the region's land mass by the
Chinese, as well as the annexation of Kohistan and Chitral into the Republic of
Pakistan," he added.
Qureshi
stated the conviction of Baba Jan and his associates is illegitimate as they
have been falsely implicated and Islamabad has no jurisdiction in Gilgit
Baltistan according to Pakistan's own Constitution and the Supreme Court.
Describing
Baba Jan's prosecution as 'State terrorism and a grave violation of Human
Rights', Qureshi said the Anti-Terrorism Act is being used to silence the
voices of justified dissent in Gilgit Baltistan in order to pacify concerns
raised by Beijing.
He
appealed to the UN to take note of the injustice mounted upon Baba Jan and
demanded that he should be immediately released along with his associates.
Qureshi,
the leader of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party, is the organizer of
the Europe-wide Signature Campaign against the further division of Jammu and
Kashmir and attempts of unlawfully annexing Gilgit Baltistan.
He
highlighted the 46 billion dollar costing China Pakistan Economic Corridor is
an extension of Beijing's ambitions of reconstructing the ancient Silk Road.
Qureshi
stressed that Pakistan's move to illegally annex Gilgit Baltistan, change the
fundamentals of the actual Kashmir-issue and cement China's stake in the
dispute in response to concerns raised by Beijing.
"China
finds it internationally indefensible to invest billions of dollars on a road
that passes through a disputed territory claimed both by India and Pakistan.
The actions of Pakistan totally negate the interests of the people of Jammu and
Kashmir and their future, while jeopardizing any kind of solution to this long
standing conflict," he said.
Elaborating
the abundance of resources in Gilgit Baltistan and the negative environmental
and ecological impacts of China's presence and proposed plans, he said Gilgit
Baltistan is already facing serious environmental problems in relation to
climate change because of air and water pollution, inadequate waste disposal,
natural resources depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and glacier
melting.
Qureshi
stressed the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a deliberate attempt by
Islamabad to change the constituents of the actual Kashmir issue.
"I
firmly believe that after Pakistan's many attempts throughout history to change
the demographics of Gilgit Baltistan and its role in marginalizing the voice of
the Kashmiri people on international platforms like the UN, the China Pakistan
Economic Corridor is a deliberate attempt to change the constituents of the
actual Kashmir issue," he said.
He,
however, pointed out that if Islamabad imposes writ over Gilgit-Baltistan than
India will have a political and moral right to fully integrate Jammu and
Kashmir.
"If
Pakistan imposes its sovereign writ over Gilgit-Baltistan, India will then have
a political and moral right to fully integrate Jammu and Kashmir into India and
scrap Article 370 of its constitution, which gives Jammu and Kashmir a special
status," he added.
Qureshi
reiterated that Gilgit Baltistan is an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir, the
future status of which still needs to be decided according to the wishes of the
people living in Jammu, Ladakh, the Kashmir Valley, Pakistan Administered
Kashmir and indeed Gilgit Baltistan.
"The
construction of this corridor, complimented by the military benefits for both
China and Pakistan and an investment of 46 billion dollars has all the
ingredients to exacerbate the complexities of the Kashmir issue, threaten peace
and secure China's strategic interests by allowing it, to increase its
illegitimate share in Jammu and Kashmir, " he added.
He
asserted that the people in Gilgit Baltistan are not in need of economic
corridors of exploitation, but they long for basic human rights and their
political liberties since the last 70 years.
He
concluded by saying that the Europe-wide Signature Campaign will be held in
front of the UN on June 18 and 19 respectively and subsequently in Geneva in
protest against the nefarious designs of China and Pakistan.
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