Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday grilled the Indian government over the security crisis in Kashmir and claimed that it does not have the nerve to hold elections in the occupied territory despite “military presence”.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) stalwart observed that “[more than] 700,000 troops have been deployed in Indian held Kashmir [with] one soldier to every 10 civilians”.
“Despite [the military presence], you do not have the guts to conduct [fair] elections in the occupied territory,” he posted on his Twitter handle.
سات لاکھ فوج کشمیر میں تعینات ہے، ہر دس کشمیریوں پر ایک بھارتی فوجی مسلط ہے اس کے باوجود آپ میں جرࣿات نہیں کہ آپ کشمیر میں انتخابات کرا سکیں، جب ارب ھا روپیہ سیکورٹی پر خرچنے کے بعد بھی آپ کی یہ حالت ہے تو ضد نہ کریں،استصواب کی طرف جائیں لوگوں کو فیصلہ کرنے دیں وہ کیا چاہتے ہیں
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 11, 2019
The minister further urged the Indian government to stop being stubborn and give the Kashmiri populace their long-due right to self-determination.
India is heading towards a general election starting from April 11. According to domestic and international experts, incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to be benefitted from the recent tensions with Pakistan.
More than 900 million citizens will utilize their right to vote in what is going to be the biggest democratic exercise across the globe which will be held in seven stages and last more than a month.
