Kashmiris can determine their own political destiny: Dr. Fai

Views

Baltimore, Maryland. May 31, 2016. “The world powers have voiced not a syllable of reproach to India for its human rights violations in Kashmir. Their tacit message to India’s leaders: your economic attractiveness and hegemony in South Asia exculpate your human rights atrocities in Kashmir. Does that reflect a profile in courage?” this was stated by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness during the 41st Annual Convention of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).

Dr. Fai was speaking in the panel, entitled, “Muslims Around The World Series” on the subject of Kashmir. Other speakers included Dr. Nikibur Rahman, son of Motiur Rahman Nizami who was executed in Bangladesh on May 11, 2016 through a trial procedure that international human rights groups, including ‘Amnesty International’ have condemned as deeply flawed. ‘The Arab Spring: 6 Years later’ was presented by Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery, former Member of Parliament of Egypt.

“More trade between India and Pakistan will do nothing to end the indigenous Kashmiri resistance, which is fueled by shocking human rights violations and the denial of self-determination for more than half a century. No power on earth can bargain away the rights of Kashmiris; only they can determine their own political destiny,” Fai warned.

The international community should not abandon Kashmir to the whims of India and Pakistan. They should be persuaded to permit outside intervention to resolve the Kashmir conflict. They should also be encouraged to permit the leadership of the people of Kashmir to participate as full partners in the negotiating enterprise with both India and Pakistan.

“Isn’t the demand of the people of Kashmir legitimate and recognized by the United Nations and international community? If yes, then why should the world powers prefer trade and commerce to moral values and ethical principles? Isn’t trade and commerce trampling on principles, democratic values, and human rights in Kashmir? Isn’t it a bad precedence to prefer trade to morality,” Fai asked?

Fai concluded by emphasizing the inspirational message given by President Obama to the leadership of the South Asia on October 30, 2008 when he pronounced to facilitate an understanding between India and Pakistan to help resolve the Kashmir crisis. That message needs to be fulfilled for the sake of international peace and security.

Similar Posts

  • The Kashmir Dispute: Taking Lessons from Aaland Islands

    There are some disputes in modern history that one might take lessons from in understanding the wisest course to take in resolving the Kashmiri dispute.

    The Aaland Islands is a case in point. The Aaland Islands are joined at the hip — well, should I say, the toe of Finland — and has been considered of strategic importance from the standpoint of defense for Sweden, because of its role as a kind of sentinel to the entrances to the port of Stockholm, as well as the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, in addition to being situated near the Gulf of Finland.

  • While India Celebrates, Kashmir Mourns

    N.N. Vohra, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and apparent ventriloquist dummy for some folks a little further south, according to Kashmir Today, “observed that it is the duty of all citizens to protect and preserve the unity and integrity of the nation, adding that towards the attainment of such an objective all of us must join hands to negate all divisive and communal forces and promote societal harmony and brotherhood.”

    India is of course celebrating its 67th Republic Day to honor its Constitution that became enforceable on January 26 in 1950. But the world’s largest “democracy” had no such democratic intentions for Kashmir. It was just two years earlier that the United Nations Security Council had been adopted, creating the Ceasefire Line, which was to end the war, stave off further conflict between India and Pakistan and pave the way for conditions in which a plebiscite could be held in which the people of Jammu and Kashmir could decide for themselves whether they wished to be an integral part of India, join Pakistan, or be free to chart their own course as an independent state.

  • Resolution of Kashmir can Unlock War in Afghanistan

    The idea that the dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir can be settled only in accordance with the will of the people, which can be ascertained through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite, was the common ground taken by all the three parties to the dispute, viz., the people of Kashmir, Pakistan, and India. It was supported without any dissent by the United Nations Security Council and prominently championed by the United States, Great Britain, France and other democratic states.

    It became a matter of controversy only after India realized that she could not win the people’s vote. Due to the cold war, she found a firm ally for her obstructionist position in the Soviet Union. With the end of the cold war, the original perspective should have been recovered.

  • Kashmiris Demanded UN Pledged Right of Self-Determination

    New York, October 26, 2015. A huge peace march took place in New York in which thousands of friends of Kashmir participated. The march was jointly sponsored by all groups who believe in the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.

    The very inspiring March began at the Indian Mission to the UN on 43rd Street and led up 3rd Avenue to 47th, terminating in front of the United Nations. The cooperation of NY state and city police was exemplary, and there were no incidents which marred the event.

    Hundreds also participated in London, Brussels, Islamabad and Muzaffarabad with their own marches. In Srinagar, Kashmir, however, the leadership was put under house arrest in Srinagar so they could not go the office of the UN and present the memorandum.

  • Modi’s Elephant in the Room

    Modi’s visit to Srinagar Saturday brings to mind an event where in September 2006 the British artist Banksy gave special meaning to the phrase “elephant in the room” in a Los Angeles exhibit called Photo credit: Gary Martin www.phrases.org.ukBarely Legal. It’s theme was global poverty. As writer Gary Martin says, “By painting the elephant in the same bold pattern as the room’s wallpaper, Banksy emphasized the phrase’s meaning, by both making the elephant even more obvious and by giving those who chose to ignore it (like the woman in the tableau) an opportunity to pretend that it had blended into the wallpaper background.“

    Modi’s elephant in the room was depicted in the same way in Srinagar, the Capitol City of Kashmir this past weekend, where we had the same artificial set re-enacted. The attempt to disguise the true problem of Kashmir by locking up the voices and spirit of resistance to Indian oppression did not make it go away nor did it recede into the wallpaper. The dispute over the sovereignty of the land and people of Kashmir cannot be hidden by all the cosmetics that $12 billion can purchase.

  • Incredible Response to the –Million-Man-March’: Barrister Sultan

    Keansburg, New Jersey, October 19, 2015. Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, former prime minister of Azad Kashmir and ‘the Guest of Honor’ saidBarrister Mehmood “Kashmir Million-Man-March is being organized on October 25 in New York to pave a way for a just and durable resolution of longstanding Kashmir dispute.” Addressing a huge gathering of friends of Kashmir in Keansburg, New Jersey, he said the world community was concerned about the latest situation in Kashmir which can lead the whole region of South Asia to the nuclear disaster. The world powers including the United States are trying to persuade both India and Pakistan to resume the peaceful negotiation to settle all disputes including the dispute over Kashmir.

    Barrister Sultan urged the Pakistani and Kashmiri Americans as well as those who believe in human rights and human dignity to participate in the “Million-Man-March” to make it a great success.

    Mohammad Yasin Malik, Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front and ‘the Key-note Speaker’ while speaking via Skype, expressed full support to the ‘Million-Man-March. He thanked the people in the audience for their solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their willingness to help the people of Kashmir to achieve their right to self-determination.