Sardar Ateeq Khan opposes abolishing refugee seats in AJK Assembly

refugee
Share this post on :

 

MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): Former Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and President Muslim Conference, Sardar Ateeq Khan, has stated that abolishing refugee seats in the Legislative Assembly would be a great injustice to the freedom movement.

In an interview with Kashmir Digital, Sardar Ateeq Khan said that the Muslim Conference’s stance on refugee seats is quite clear: these seats are a symbol of the refugees of Jammu and Kashmir who reside in Pakistan.

He said, “If you do not allow them to vote today, then when the opportunity for a plebiscite arises, how will India agree to include them in the plebiscite?”

We also oppose making Gilgit-Baltistan a province for this very reason, as it would reduce the votes for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

He said that the Muslim Conference is the oldest political party in the state, and it is the same party that passed the resolution for accession to Pakistan on July 19, 1947, 23 days before the establishment of Pakistan.

“The day of the resolution for accession to Pakistan is very important because it is the soul of the Kashmir freedom movement, and ‘Kashmir will become Pakistan’ is its life.”

He said that new alignments are seen in every election, but this time the Pakistan Peoples’ Party and PML-N acted a bit too quickly. “If the Muslim Conference forms an alliance, it will be with the PML-N, as they are ideologically closer to us, and there is a strong possibility of this.”

‘Refugees are identity of Kashmir’

Sardar Ateeq Khan lamented that Omar Abdullah remembered the martyrs of July 13 after a delay and realized that these are the people because of whom the identity of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is intact.

Scroll to Top