Ask Pakistan to withdraw troops, non-state actors from PoK, rights activist writes to Biden

Asserting that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) has suffered "unspeakable atrocities" at hands of the Pakistani state, human right activist Amjad Ayub Mirza on Monday urged US President-elect Joe Biden to "forcefully ask" Islamabad to withdraw its troops and non-state actors from the region.

Asserting that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) has suffered "unspeakable atrocities" at hands of the Pakist state, human right activist Amjad Ayub Mirza on Monday urged US President-elect Joe Biden to "forcefully ask" Islamabad to withdraw its troops and non-state actors from the region.

In a letter to Biden, Mirza, who is from Mirpur in PoK and is living in exile in the UK, said Pakistan has turned the PoK into training ground dotted with camps where young people and aliens are trained to become terrorists, who are then frequently infiltrated across the border into Indian union territory of Kashmir to cause havoc.

Mirza congratulated Biden on his historic victory in the US presidential polls. "A beacon of hope has lit with your ascent to the White House. Globally you are being hailed as a healer and a unifier and it is in this context that I am have taken the liberty to pen this letter to you," he wrote in the letter.

"Today more than 32,000 square miles of our territory still remains under the illegal occupation of the Pakist state. Despite numerous UN resolutions and four wars over the dispute between India and Pakistan the issue of Jammu Kashmir remains unresolved. Meanwhile, my people continue to suffer due to lack of health, education, industry, agriculture, transport, and various essential institutions that are considered vital infrastructure essentials for a modern society to prosper. Millions of our young people have been forced by circumstance to migrate to the Middle East, Europe and as far as North America in search of jobs to support the loved ones back home," the letter read.

Mirza requested Biden to grant him an audience at the White House so that he can present the case of illegal occupation by Pakistan in person.

"I am asking for your support in resolving the issue of Jammu Kashmir on war footing and forcefully ask Pakistan to withdraw its troops and non-state actors from our lands, a demand that has been echoing thought he UN resolutions. I request you to grant us an audience at the White House so that we can present our case to you in person," it added.

The activist listed Pakistan atrocities on the people living in the PoK. He said during cross-border firing, women in the region refuse to take shelter in the bunkers as they complain of being molested by the Pakistan army, and human rights activists are kidnapped and murdered.

"Sentences of 40, 60 and 90 years imprisonment have been awarded to our environmentalists who oppose the diversion of the rivers for construction of mega-dams under Chinese dictates, and dozens of human rights activists are languishing in prisons for raising their voice for the lack of civil liberties. For every 25 people living in Gilgit-Baltistan, one Pakist armed solder has been deployed. Hence under the circumstances, our people are faced with the worst kind of terror in modern-day and age," the letter stated.

"As we trot the globe in search of a bowl of rice, Pakistan has turned our land into training ground dotted with camps where our young people and aliens are trained to become terrorists, who are then frequently infiltrated across the border into Indian union territory of Kashmir to cause havoc," it added.

Mirza said that it has been established beyond doubt that Pakistan is the aggressor and the people of PoK are the "real victims" in the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

He also pointed to the impact of the expansion of Chinese imperialism in the region which has resulted in the "uncanny" control of China on the land in the PoK.

"We are Indian citizens living under the colonial occupation of Pakistan. Furthermore since the expansion of Chinese imperialism in the region our land in Pakist occupied Gilgit-Baltistan has come under the uncanny control of China through her partnership with Pakistan in the Belt and Road Initiative that runs through our occupied land. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it is referred to, is a project that has brought our occupied territory under double colonial rule of Pakistan and China," he noted.

( With inputs from ANI )