A conference on “Islamism and Human Rights in Pakistan” was held in Flemish Parliament at Leuvenseweg in Brussels.
The conference was attended by Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, exiled chair of the United Kashmir People’s National Party, Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan, central spokesperson of UKPNP, Sardar Amjad Yousaf, President of UKPNP Europe, and Sikandar Abbas, Vice President of UKPNP a mong others.
At the press conference, Jamil Maqsood, Central Secretary of the committee on foreign Affairs of UKPNP spoke that instead of framing a Constitution, all Pakistan did was adopt resolutions. However, although a Constitution was framed in 1973, Pakistan continued to exploit minorities due to which their population in the country has dipped to three per cent.
Maqsood further added that when Pakistan introduced the Blasphemy Law in 1973, it was used against Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians. Hindu women were abducted and married off to Muslims. Recently, two Sikh youths were killed in Peshawar. There are laws which are used against minorities to threaten and usurp their property, he alleged.
Faza ur Rehman, President of the Institute of Research and Strategic Studies, stated that Pashtuns were used as sacrificial goats in Pakistan. They were being forced to fight other people’s wars in Afghanistan. Rehman claimed that thousands of extrajudicial killings of the Pashtun and Baloch people were conducted by the Pakistan Army as means of eliminating terrorists and the Taliban.
Rehman condemned Pakistan for using radical Islam ideology to target its adversaries in the Pashtun community.
Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan said that Pakistan was using PoK as a terror launchpad. Jihadi organizations are being trained in these areas while Pakistan is aiding them in terrorism in the name of fighting terror, he said, adding that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan proves this fact.
Further, the UKPNP Central spokesperson stated that presently women madrassas are being financed, promoted and even encouraged where the female population is being radicalized paving the way for a larger impact on the whole generation of radicals in the coming years. He urged the people living in the PoK, not to fall prey to Pakistan’s tool of radical Islam ideology.