Campaign to liberate PoJK from Pak gains momentum
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 22
On the 26th anniversary of the Parliament resolution to liberate Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), displaced people from PoJK held programmes in various parts of Jammu on Saturday to remind the Centre of the resolution.
Residents of Gilgit-Baltistan, who live in various parts of the world, have been using social media to highlight their grievances.
On Friday, an aggressive campaign was launched on the social media to protect the cultural, ethnicity and languages of the ethnic minorities living in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.
On February 22, 1996, both Houses of Parliament had unanimously adopted a resolution in which it was made it clear that whole of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and that Pakistan must vacate parts of the state under its occupation.
“Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of India. Recently, India carried out amendments in its Constitution to declare Gilgit-Baltistan a part of the Union Territory of Ladakh. This helped to re-establish Gilgit-Baltistan’s historical link with Ladakh since Baltistan was part of Ladakh district before the partition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Senge Hasnan Sering, director of the Washington-based Gilgit Baltistan Institute. He said the Pakistani establishment had been persecuting natives of Gilgit-Baltistan on one pretext or another.
“It is heartening to convey that entire India is on the same page when it comes to demanding Pakistani withdrawal from Gilgit-Baltistan. India expects China and Pakistan to end the occupation of Gilgit-Baltistan so that the locals can enjoy equal citizenship rights like the people of Ladakh and other Indians,” he said.
He urged the Union Government to accelerate diplomatic efforts and effectively communicate to the rest of the world how the presence of China and Pakistan in Gilgit-Baltistan was detrimental to the health of the local languages and cultures and a direct attack on the local resources.
“Both China and Pakistan have joined hands to undertake genocide against local people and convert them into a minority. Given the situation, the entire world should stand with India to save the natives of Gilgit-Baltistan from annihilation. The world should not let Gilgit-Baltistan turn into another Xinjiang or Tibet,” he said.
