'Kashmir: A Case of World Apathy' Panel Held in Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey: A panel discussion took place at ILKE Science, Culture, Education Foundation, Istanbul, entitled “Kashmir: A Case of World Apathy.” Panelists included, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum and Dr Waleed Rasool, Professor at Riphah University, Islamabad. The emcee was Ahsan Shafiq Butt, foreign relations coordinator at the Foundation.
Ahsan Shafiq, an energetic and scholarly individual, said that Kashmir has been the victim of the world’s apathy, rather hypocrisy. Yet, Muslims need to take the lead even if it means taking small steps and not leaps to make a difference.
ILKE Foundation, established in 1980’s, produces information, policies and strategies, conducts research that will guide decision makers, and contribute to the pooling of knowledge for the future. The Foundation has contributed so far in the fields of education, business ethics, civil society, law and management. It undertakes charity-oriented work for living within the framework of Islamic and human values, conducive to living, and pioneering the realization of a transformation in this direction in society.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai said that the Indian perspective on Kashmir has been full of deceit, deception and lies. Responding to a question: (question hour lasted for two hours) ‘Is Kashmir an integral part of India?’ Fai explained that under all international agreements, which were agreed upon by both India and Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations and accepted by the Security Council, Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the United Nations. If Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the United Nations, then the claim that Kashmir is an integral part of India does not stand. And if Kashmir is not an integral part of India, then to call Kashmiris separatists is an insult and an absolute fallacy because Kashmir cannot separate from a country - India -to which it never acceded to in the first place.
Answering another question, Dr. Fai said that the people of Kashmir understand that India’s obdurate stand has been effective in creating the impression among policy makers of world powers, including the United States, that the idea of plebiscite is unworkable, although, the United States and Britain have traditionally been committed supporters of the plebiscite agreement as the only way to resolve the issue. They sponsored all the Security Council resolutions which called for a plebiscite. Plebiscite became a matter of controversy only after India realized that she could not win the people's vote. Fai also added that when the Kashmir dispute erupted in 1947-1948, the United States championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be ascertained in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the territory. The United States was the principal sponsor of the resolution # 47 which was adopted by the Security Council on 21 April 1948, and which was based on that unchallenged principle.
Responding to a question of popular sentiments of the people towards the freedom struggle, Fai explained that the scale of popular backing for it can be judged from the established fact that, on many occasions since 1990, virtually the entire population of Srinagar came out on the streets in an unparalleled demonstration of protest against the oppressive status quo. The fact that they presented petitions at the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group (UNMOGIP) shows the essentially peaceful nature of the aims of the uprising and its trust in justice under international law. India has tried to portray the uprising as the work of terrorists or fanatics. Terrorists do not make up an entire population, including women and children; fanatics do not look up to the United Nations to achieve a pacific and rational settlement, Fai said.
Fai referred to the report issued by the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights which endorses this fact by stating: “While Indian-Administered Kashmir has experienced waves of protests in the past—in the late 1980s to early 1990s, 2008 and 2010—this current round of protests appears to involve more people than the past, and the profile of protesters has also shifted to include more young, middle-class Kashmiris, including females who do not appear to have been participating in the past.”
Fai agreed with a questioner who claimed that the Kashmir struggle has been met with studied unconcern by the United Nations. This unconcern has given a sense of total impunity to India, responded Dr Fai. It has also created the impression that the United Nations is invidiously selective about the application of the principles of human rights and democracy. There is a glaring contrast between the outcry over the massacre in Ukraine, on the one side, and the official silence (barring some faint murmurs of disapproval) over the killing and maiming of a vastly greater number of civilians in Kashmir and the systematic violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention. Fai added that it is the moral obligation of the world powers to respond to the pain and suffering of innocent civilians of Ukraine, however, they should not turn a blind eye towards the pain and suffering of other international conflicts, including Kashmir.
Fai told the audience which included faculties, students, and members of civil society that Yasin Malik, one of the most prominent leaders of Kashmir political resistance movement is a peace maker. Yasin Malik dedicated his life to convince the leadership of both India and Pakistan as well as important world capitals, including the United States that the only way to resolve the Kashmir conflict was through peaceful negotiations between all parties concerned – India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri leadership. The life sentence is sickening and extremely abhorrent. The world community must intervene to let justice prevail. We hope the time has come the world powers will end their apathy and insensitivity towards Kashmir, Fai said.
Dr Waleed Rasool articulated the Kashmiri perspective in these words, “Kashmir is neither part of India nor part of British India, therefore, none of the Indian laws are applicable in Kashmir. The Kashmir dispute is a legitimate international dispute as per UN resolutions and international law. India occupied Kashmir in 1947 and reannexed it in 2019, therefore, India is an aggressor and occupier.
“Since Kashmir was not a sovereign part of India, therefore, the resistance movement is neither a separatist movement nor successionist but a movement of right to self-determination which demands implementation of the UN resolutions - that sanctify the Kashmiri freedom struggle.
Others present on the occasion included Dr. Mubeen Shah, prominent global Kashmiri diaspora leader and Turgay Rvren, Turkish author, poet, songwriter.
- gnfai2003@yahoo.com
