Separatists demanding ‘azadi’ must visit Gilgit-Baltistan: Parthasarathy

Jammu, February 22

Cautioning the nation against the increasing intervention of China in many parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), former diplomat and eminent columnist G Parthasarathy today suggested that Kashmir-based Hurriyat leaders who had been demanding “azadi” should be asked to visit Gilgit-Baltistan, where the Pakistani authorities were denying basic rights to people. Parthasarathy was speaking during the concluding session of a seminar organised on the implementation of 1994 Lok Sabha resolution to liberate a part of Kashmir from the illegal occupation of Pakistan. The seminar was organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Security and Strategies.  “As part of the 1994 resolution of Parliament, Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir as well as India so separatist leaders of the Kashmir valley who have been demanding azadi and raking up the issue of human rights violations should be asked to visit that part of Kashmir to inquire about the plight of people living there,” he said.

Parthasarathy, who has served as High Commissioner of India to Pakistan and Consul General in Karachi, cautioned the nation against the development in Gilgit-Baltistan. “The presence of China in Gilgit-Baltistan has been posing as a grave threat to India. It is high time the country took some step,” he said, adding, “Pakistan, as part of its nefarious designs, has been changing the demography of Gilgit-Baltistan by settling people of Swat in this Shia-dominated area.” He said the involvement of China in this region had been increasing. He said the killing of Shias was going on unabated not only in Gilgit-Baltistan but in other parts of Pakistan too.  Sajjad Hussain Kargili, who has relatives in Gilgit-Baltistan, said, “Constitutionally, Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of India but the response of the government towards the killing of natives of that place is not encouraging.”

Source: Tribune News Service