ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States (US) Masood Khan has said the world community should come to the rescue of the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Addressing a special event to observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day in Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC, he said Kashmiris are the most disenfranchised people on the face of the earth, says a press release received from Washington DC here on Tuesday.

They are victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the envoy said, adding that Kashmir is a powder keg in South Asia that threatens regional peace and stability.

Masood Khan said we feel the pain of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters. Their wounds are our wounds. He said Kashmir is the keystone of foundations of Pakistan. It cannot be separated from us.

Former Member of Norwegian Parliament Lars Rise, speaking on the occasion, said that we must stand and protest for the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

He pointed out that the right to self-determination was not only promised to the Kashmiri people by UN Security Council but the Indian Prime Minister Nehru had also made the pledge to the Kashmiris. He said Kashmir should never be a forgotten conflict for the international community.

Professor George Washington University, Dr Imtiaz Hussain highlighted the harrowing crimes of the Indian forces against innocent women and children of Kashmir. He said India is making demographic changes in the occupied territory and is trying to reduce Muslim majority into minority.