ISLAMABAD: Altaf Ahmad Bhat, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM), strongly criticized on Thursday the Directorate of Enforcement’s (ED) recent measures against Senior Kashmiri Leader Muhammad Akbar Bhat in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir IIoJK.
The temporary attachment of properties worth Rs. 50 million under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was a clear sign of the Modi-led BJP government’s continued efforts to repress the genuine Kashmiri liberation struggle.
In reaction to these steps, Chairman JKSM Bhat stated that all claims are unfounded, and that the ED’s subsequent actions are nothing more than an attempt to taint the image and undermine the great cause of the current Kashmiri liberation fight.
“My elder brother, Muhammad Akbar Bhat, and I have been involved in the ongoing right to self-determination movement since we were children in IIoJK. I was targeted by the Indian military establishment and forced to flee Srinagar. By the help of God, I started a business in Pakistan through which I sponsored poor pupils.
Bhat stated that his commitment to the education of kids and rehabilitation of displaced persons in IIOJK remained unwavering despite the numerous obstacles he and his family endured in IIOJK.
Regarding the Al Jabbar Trust, Chairman JKSM Bhat stated that the Trust was formed for charity purposes and has continued to assist individuals in need, mainly IIoJK students and widows.
During the 2014 flood in IIoJK, our family in Srinagar provided support to the affected individuals through donations from local companies, the community, and other family members who paid with their own businesses. However, the Indian military establishment placed unreasonable limitations, causing operations to halt, and Indian officials closed Al Jabbar Trust in 2015, substantially limiting our ability to deliver timely relief during the IIoJK crisis.
Bhat stated that he personally participated to a number of efforts, including assisting thousands of people during the COVID-19 epidemic in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the Indian Ocean Jammu and Kashmir.
Chairman JKSM Bhat went on to say that the ED’s recent measures, including attaching the possessions of his elder brother Muhammad Akbar Bhat, who has been in Indian jail since August 2019 and accusing him of money laundering, are unjustified and propaganda.
” It is regrettable that the Indian government is using its agencies under the supervision of the Indian regular army to target those associated with the Kashmiri right of self-determination movement under the guise of various investigations, including financial irregularities, in an attempt to mislead the world about the current situation in IIoJK, where all political leaders, including Yaseen Malik, Shabir Shah, and thousands of other political workers, are imprisoned.”
According to Bhat, the timing of these actions, as well as the filing of charges against political leaders and pro-freedom activists for alleged irregularities in selling Pakistani MBBS seats in IIOJK, demonstrate how India is attempting to defame the right to self-determination and those associated with it.
Chairman JKSM Bhat urged the international community to take note of the Modi-led BJP government’s unjust actions and to protect the basic human rights and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have long fought for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions under the banner of the United Nations Organization, which granted the Kashmiri people the right to self-determination.
