PoK activist Professor Sajjad Raja claimed that Pakistan was violating the fundamental rights of the region's people adding that Islamabad was treating them like "animals."
"Pakistan must be forced to give us all basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. We must not be treated like animals. We are also human beings. We have got all the right to live peacefully and enjoy the facilities of modern day life. And people in mainland Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh are enjoying," he said while addressing the British Parliament in a video shared on Twitter, now rebranded as X.
According to India, Pakistan is in illegal possession of a part of Kashmir, which it calls Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and has repeatedly asked Islamabad to vacate it.
In 1947, barely two months after India and Pakistan became two independent countries following independence from British rule, Pakistani invaders in the garb of tribals attacked Kashmir which was under the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh at the time.
However, Hari Singh signed an instrument of accession days later and Indian troops landed in Kashmir's Srinagar on October 27, 1947, to repel the attack.
Though Indian forces succeeded in driving out Pakistani intruders from large parts of Kashmir, some parts of the region remained under their control after the two countries announced a ceasefire.
Against this backdrop, Raja pointed out that Pakistan did not have any locus standi in the Kashmir dispute.
"Pakistan has been given this legitimacy by Indian government. We invited India to come and rescue us and instead what they did they went to the United Nations on 1 January 1948 and there in United Nations they agreed to the formula which was presented by Western forces and agreed that Pakistan is a legitimate party to the dispute," Raja added.