Ali Jan Profile picture
Freelance Journalist, ex-BBC, ex-Reuters,ex-AFP, ex-Herald. Winner of BBC News Award of best reporting in the West and Central Asia region

Jun 27, 2025, 30 tweets

There's a speech by the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir that every Kashmiri needs to hear.
It was delivered on May 29, 2025, near Muzaffarabad at the inauguration of a water treatment plant. Just listen to what was said:

“This system—of which you and I are beneficiaries—was fundamentally meant to serve as a base camp for the Kashmir freedom movement. But by playing musical chairs with power, we’ve drifted far from that purpose.

"This entire constitutional structure exists thanks to the violated honor of mothers, sisters, and daughters in occupied Jammu & Kashmir; thanks to the unknown graves; thanks to the martyrs’ sacrifices. We are indebted to them.

"If we remove the freedom movement from this system, there’s no justification in the world to maintain such a massive constitutional structure.

"If ideological commitment to the movement doesn’t make sense to you, then at least, for the sake of protecting your livelihood, it is necessary for us all to stay tied to this cause. These words may be bitter, but they are the truth.

"Even if, God forbid, this movement never reaches its logical end in our lifetimes, we must at least improve the status quo so that future generations don’t label us as traitors.”
Now just stop and think about that.

This isn't the first time he said something like this. In fact, on June 26, 2024, during a budget session in the AJK Assembly, he made almost the same points. And ever since then, this has been the tone of his speeches.

We all need to pay attention — not just to the words, but to the truths he's accidentally exposing.

In the first part,he’s openly admitting that the political elite of Azad Kashmir — have for decades used the tragedy & suffering in Indian-administered Kashmir to their own advantage.

Not for freedom. Not for solidarity. But to protect their own positions, justify their oversized government, and maintain the status quo.
All this talk about “base camp of the freedom movement” — turns out, it’s just been a slogan.

A way to keep their privileges alive. Do they care about what’s happening in the Valley? Not really. Do they care about the people dying there? Doesn’t look like it. And you know what? That’s a huge admission.

Earlier leaders may have believed the same thing, but they only whispered it behind closed doors. This man is saying it on the mic, in public.

And then comes the most chilling part — the end of his speech. He says:
“Even if, God forbid, this movement does not reach its logical conclusion in our lifetime, we must at least improve the status quo so that future generations do not call us traitors.”

Now tell me — what does that even mean?
He says on one hand, he wants Kashmir to become part of Pakistan. But on the other hand, he’s hoping that children keep dying in the Valley, homes keep burning, women keep getting assaulted — just so that the status quo in our region

continues — or gets even better.
He’s not worried about the 8 million people of the Valley — less than 0.5% of India’s population. Even if they’re wiped off the map, it's fine — as long as the system here survives.

He literally says that the bloodshed in the Valley is necessary to keep this region’s system alive. Otherwise, their children might call them traitors.
I want to ask you — is that what future generations would want? That people in another region continue to suffer and die,

just so we can keep our perks?
It’s a horrifying but honest reflection. What's worse is how normal this attitude has become — how quietly accepted.

Not one politician here said a word against it. Not one intellectual challenged it. Not one political party, from any ideology, even blinked.
Now, let me ask you two simple questions:

First — the UN resolutions on Kashmir? They don’t apply to just the Valley. They apply to the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir — that includes AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan, everything. But here’s the reality: every region has surrendered the right to self-determination.

There’s no movement in any region — not in AJK, not in GB, not in most parts of Jammu. It’s only the people in the Valley, & in a few districts like Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch, and Rajouri, who are still dying. So I ask: Why are people only dying in the Valley or some parts of Jammu?

Whose base camp is AJK, really? The right to self-determination isn’t just about the Valley or a few parts of Jammu -it’s about AJK, GB, Ladakh,& all of Jammu & Kashmir. So why should people from only certain areas be the ones dying? Why is it always them who are made to suffer?

Second, from 1990 to 2021, there was nonstop shelling across the Line of Control, targeting the civilian population of Azad Kashmir living in border areas. Thousands were killed, injured, or disabled — many simply because they couldn’t access timely medical care.

And where were the leaders of Azad Kashmir? In Islamabad — always, safely far away.
Do you know why people in Neelum Valley started waving white flags in peace marches after 2003? Because the politicians of Azad Kashmir left them at the mercy of Indian guns —

they never came to help. The same thing happened in 2019 in Poonch, where people near the LoC came out with white flags. And yet, not a single politician from Azad Kashmir visited the LoC for decades.

So let me ask you: Why didn’t they ever stand with their own people? Why didn’t they do anything to push back the Indian military from the LoC — a real and constant threat to us? Why is it that only the people of the Valley are expected to die?

If we don’t question this now, if we don’t speak the truth, then we are complicit. And one day, our children really will call us traitors.

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