Srinagar, Aug. 7 -- Kashmiri activist Javed Ahmad Beigh criticised Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, labelling Pakistan's annual commemoration of "Youm-e-Istehsal" as a hypocritical act and a perpetuation of the long-standing manipulation of the Kashmir issue by the Pakistani government.

Beigh, a Koshur-speaking ethnic Kashmiri Muslim from the Kashmir Valley in India, remarked that Pakistan has been exploiting the Kashmir issue since 1947, employing it as a means to validate its formation and existence as a state driven by security and fueled by animosity towards India and Hindus.

In his address to Shehbaz Sharif, Beigh wrote, "You are right, the state of Pakistan has indeed exploited the Kashmir issue since 1947 to justify crea...