The top leadership of the United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP) organised a press conference recently at Leeds, UK, condemning Pakistan for its discrimination and atrocities inflicted on the residents of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, the Chairman of UKPNP, condemned Pakistan for framing fake and bogus charges on UKPNP leaders and other activists belonging to the PoJK.

While condemning such actions of the administration and defence forces, the UKPNP leader said, “We know that the one who will demand social rights in Pakistan, the one who will raise voices against atrocities, and the one who will talk about the development of his region will be tortured and will be called traitors. If this is the cost, we are traitors.”

Kashmiri in his statement further stated, ” We condemn such actions; we condemn and reject the authorities who, just to diminish the sovereignty in their region, use shady tactics. We reject the authorities who don’t give their people even the basic democratic rights and infrastructural facilities necessary for survival. And being called traitors by them does not affect us in any way.”

He also claimed that Pakistan is a nation that cannot answer the questions raised by its people. It cannot defend its own brutal and draconian actions and policies. It often hides behind ‘Fatwas’ (religious orders) and atrocities and plays blame games against people who involve themselves in activism for rights and justice.

“Pakistan has made its people so radicalised that they are ready to kill each other in the name of religion. And the ones who tried to resist the hierarchy and demanded their rights are often raided and tortured. We have witnessed the horrors that a radicalised mob can inflict if it is triggered,” he added.