Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 7 : Kashmiri activist Javed Ahmad Beigh criticised Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, labelling Pakistan's annual commemoration of "Youm-e-Istehsal" as a hypocritical act and a perpetuation of the long-standing manipulation of the Kashmir issue by the Pakistani government.
Beigh, a Koshur-speaking ethnic Kashmiri Muslim from the Kashmir Valley in India, remarked that Pakistan has been exploiting the Kashmir issue since 1947, employing it as a means to validate its formation and existence as a state driven by security and fueled by animosity towards India and Hindus.
In his address to Shehbaz Sharif, Beigh wrote, "You are right, the state of Pakistan has indeed exploited the Kashmir issue since 1947 to justify creation of Pakistan as a hateful security state, whose existence lies in hating Hindus, India & Hindu religion and in waging a religious war of Jihad against India to free 'Muslim majority' Kashmir from India."
Beigh further alleged that the Pakistan Army and the ISI have used the Kashmir conflict to justify their dominance over Pakistan's political and civil institutions, and to perpetuate toxic hatred for Hindus.
"Pakistan and its backed terrorists and proxies separated ethnic Koshur-speaking Kashmiri Muslims from ethnic Koshur-speaking Kashmiri Hindus," he wrote, accusing Pakistan of destroying Kashmir's composite culture by introducing guns, radicalisation, and religious extremism into the Valley.
He asserted that 1.3 million Kashmiri Muslims, including around 500,000 women, have succumbed to substance abuse, resulting in one of the most severe drug addiction crises in any Muslim-majority country worldwide. He claimed that 90% of these drugs come from Afghanistan and are funnelled into Kashmir via Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC).
Beigh highlighted the shift in the younger generation of the Valley following the abrogation of Article 370. He expressed that Kashmiri Muslim youth have emerged in an environment of peace and stability, becoming increasingly integrated into India's cultural and social mainstream.
Beigh commented on the conditions in both Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and Pakistan-Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB). He accused Pakistan of oppressing the regions it administers.