India's Kashmir policy will spur extremism, radicalization – PM Khan

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses a pro-Kashmir rally in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (AP)

Prime Minister lmran Khan participates in a mass gathering to express solidarity with Kashmiris in Muzaffarabad on Sept. 13, 2019. (PID)

• Says Muslims across the world are closely watching the situation in the disputed region
• Claims Kashmir has been ‘internationalized,’ and international community is expressing concern over Indian actions

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday India’s actions in Kashmir would fuel extremism among Muslims across the world, adding he would apprise the international community about it during his upcoming visit to the United States where he is also scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly.
“I want to tell India that you are pushing people toward extremism … People become radicalized if you push them against the wall and 1.2 billion Muslims [across the world] have their eyes riveted on Kashmir,” Khan said while addressing a rally in Muzaffarabad to show solidarity with the residents of Indian-administered Kashmir.
People of the disputed Himalayan region under Indian administration have been living in a state of strict security lockdown and communications blackout for more than 40 days after New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its limited constitutional autonomy on August 5.
Pakistan has strongly protested what it calls India’s illegal and unilateral action in Kashmir at all national and international forums, demanding the right to self-determination for the people of Kashmir as promised in the United Nation’s resolutions.
“The international community should demand India to lift curfew in Kashmir and give its people the right to self-determination through a plebiscite as per the UN resolutions,” the prime minister said, claiming that New Delhi was also discriminating against its Muslim citizens in other parts of India.
“The oppression of Indian forces [in Kashmir] will fuel extremism and people will fight against it,” he said. “If you mistreat me or the women and children of my family, I will fight back because I will consider death better than life.”
Khan said he was going to the UN General Assembly in New York next week and “will not disappoint the Kashmiri people.”
“I will raise the issue like no one has done it before,” he added.
The prime minister said the international community, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), United States, European Union and United Nations, had expressed their concerns over India’s cruelty against Kashmiris.
“Today Kashmir has been internationalized … and we will stand by its people till our last breath,” he said while warning India that Pakistan was capable of giving a jaw-breaking response to any “misadventure.”