LAHORE: PML-N central leader Senator Shaheen Butt has said that Indian oppression and tactics like abolition of articles 370 and 35A cannot end the Kashmir independence movement.
He expressed these views during a visit to the offices of EMRA Media Group. He also met the Editor-in-Chief of the daily Emra Muhammad Asif Butt and congratulated him on the launch of the EMRA newspaper and expressed his best wishes.
The senator said that the Kashmiris were fighting for independence and would continue to do so and they would get it. The Indian government made constitutional amendments because Kashmiris will forget independence and demand repeal of articles 370 and 35A.
‘This is Modi’s mistake’, he added. Kashmiris would not compromise on anything less than their right to self-determination, Shaheen Butt said.
The senator said that the Kashmiris loved Pakistan and considered Pakistan sacred after Makkah and Madinah. ‘Pakistanis also have an emotional attachment to Kashmiris’, he added.
In response to a question, he said that the response of the Government of Pakistan to the Indian constitutional amendments regarding Occupied Kashmir was very disappointing. PM Imran Khan returned after delivering a speech at the United Nations and thought that he has done a great job with regard to the Kashmir issue.
Exactly after eleven days of this speech, Modi repealed articles 370 and 35A. The history would show how Kashmiris have been betrayed.
Replying to another question on the third option, he said, “We should not talk about it ourselves. If India makes such a proposal, there is nothing wrong in discussing it and we can reject that option.” Our stance was clear that India should withdraw from Kashmir and give Kashmiris the right to decide for themselves whether they wanted to live with Pakistan or be independent.
Commenting on the recent elections in Azad Kashmir, he said, ‘The ‘establishment’ interferes in important decisions in every country but it’s disappointing when the ‘establishment’ makes wrong decisions and the decision of bringing in present rulers is a bad one’. ‘And now the establishment is paying the price of their wrong decision’, he added.
In response to a question, Senator Shaheen Butt said that inflation and unemployment were on the rise. Electricity load-shedding was creating problems while the government has made it extremely difficult for the common man to procure flour, sugar and other essentials.
The present rulers have failed miserably in solving the problems of the people. ‘The sooner we get rid of them, the better will be for the country and the nation.
