Srinagar, August 5: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday termed the abrogation of special status on Aug 5, 2019 a “strategic blunder” by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the only conclusion of the Kashmir issue would be the freedom.
The Prime Minister Khan was addressing a special session of the Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PAJK) Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of abrogation of Article 370 and 35A.
He said that after listening to speeches by the Assembly members, he got the impression that they were “feeling a bit hopeless”. “I believe God is putting Kashmiris through a phase that will end in its freedom,” he added.
Prime Minister Khan said that Modi had revoked Article 370 on the basis of four assumptions. “Modi won the elections by playing the ‘hate card’ and after winning the elections, he decided to expand that base by revoking Kashmir’s special status.
“His win with a heavy majority gave him the confidence to do this. Second, he made the assumption that Pakistan would not do anything about it because it sought friendship with India. He thought Pakistan would keep quiet because we needed India. There was arrogance behind all of this,” he said.
“Modi knew that India is a big market in the world right now and the international community would want to keep good relations with it. India thought that the world community would keep silent because it needed it to counterbalance China.
“The biggest false assumption that Prime Minister Modi made was that he thought that by posting 800,000 soldiers in the Kashmir valley, he could strike fear in the hearts of the Kashmiris and then India would be able to change Kashmir’s demography. India thought that when it showed its full might, the Kashmiris would surrender,” the Prime Minister said. KDC