“Kashmiris are not enemies of India nor do they hold any grudge against its inhabitants. We are desirous of a strong India and Pakistan and it is only possible when the Kashmir issue is resolved to pave the way for peace, prosperity and development in the region.”─ Syed Ali Geelani, Veteran leader of Jammu & Kashmir
“It is never too late to defend the right of self-determination and UN jurisprudence on Kashmir.” ─Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani, President, JKCHR
On India’s Republic Day, the people of Jammu and Kashmir extend their warm felicitation to the people of India. It is on January 26 that India celebrates its Republic Day to honor the date on which the Indian Constitution came into force. Kashmiris, however, voice deep regret over betrayal by te Indian Government─ not the people of India─ of her high-minded ideals in Kashmir that marked its entry into the family of nations after long years under the British raj: shocking human rights violations, contempt for international law and binding self-determination resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
The Kashmir question is one of the oldest unresolved international problems pending on the agenda of the Security Council.. There are certain characteristics of the situation in Kashmir, which distinguish it from all other deplorable human rights situations around the world.
- It prevails in what is recognized─ under international law─ as a disputed territory. According to the international agreements between India and Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations and endorsed by the Security Council, the territory’s status is to be determined by the free vote of its people under U.N. supervision.
- It represents a Government’s repression, not of a secessionist or separatist movement, but of an uprising against foreign occupation, an occupation that was expected to end under determinations made by the United Nations. The Kashmiris are not, and cannot be called, separatists because they cannot secede from a country to which they have never acceded in the first place.
- It has been met with studied unconcern by the United Nations. This has given a sense of total impunity to India. 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 massacres in certain areas, 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.
- It is a paradoxical case of the United Nations being deactivated and rendered unable to address a situation to which it had devoted a number of resolutions and in which it had established a presence, though with a limited mandate. The United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is one of the oldest peacekeeping operations of the UN; the force is stationed in Kashmir to observe the cease-fire between India and Pakistan.
- Kashmir is the only international dispute where the solution of the conflict, the right to self-determination, was suggested by the parties themselves, India and Pakistan.
- Kashmir is the only region which shares its borders with three nuclear powers of the world─ India, Pakistan & China. The potential of nuclear war has always been there between India and Pakistan, and now because of the Chinese element that potential is now real. The uncertainty over Kashmir will not only lead India and Pakistan to disaster, but it will also destroy any possibility of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan.
All these peculiarities of the Kashmir situation become more baffling in view of the fact that the mediatory initiative which would halt the violations of human rights and set the stage for a solution would entail no deployment of United Nations forces, no financial outlays and no adversarial relations with India.
The resolution of the dispute will bring unparalleled honour to the one who helps to achieve it. That honour could be of President Joseph R. Biden if he gets involved in resolving the Kashmir dispute. His involvement should not be seen to favour India or Pakistan, but to advance the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights.
In this context, the following considerations are most pertinent for an assessment of the dispute by the world powers.
When the Kashmir dispute erupted in 1947-1948, the USA, Great Britain, China, France, Canada, Argentina, Belgium and Columbia championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be determined in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the territory. The USA was a 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. The basic formula for settlement was incorporated in the resolutions of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) adopted on 13 August 1948 and 5 January 1949.
These are not resolutions in the routine sense of the term. Their provisions were negotiated in detail by the UN Commission with India and Pakistan and it was only after the consent of both Governments was explicitly obtained that they were endorsed by the Security Council. They thus constitute a binding and solemn international agreement about the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
We Kashmiris are dismayed by the lack of action by the world powers to help stop the carnage in Kashmir and by their virtual indifference to the situation in our land. The disparity between their inaction and their repeated assertion that the protection of human rights and encouragement of democratic solutions are their major foreign policy goals is hard for us to understand. Nevertheless, we still have confidence that they will realize that what is at stake in the dispute is not only the survival of the people of Kashmir , but peace in the populous region of South Asia and also the basis of a civilized worldview.
Currently the policy of world powers has led the Indian Government to believe that all it needs is some political maneuvering to dissipate foreign concern over the appalling situation in Kashmir. Dr Syed Nazir Gilani said it best: “We should pull down the heavens and roof of the United Nations, alert our friends all over the world, point out that the notification on 35A was a serious violation of UN Resolutions on Kashmir, a violation of the agreement between Government of India with the people of Kashmir and a violation of the agreements between India and Pakistan.”
Without reservation, it can be said that if anybody becomes instrumental in resolving the Kashmir dispute─ the bone of contention between the two very potentially dangerous countries─ deserves not only the Nobel Peace Prize but also a special place in history. The resolution of the dispute will bring unparalleled honour to the one who helps to achieve it. That honour could be of President Joseph R. Biden if he gets involved in resolving the Kashmir dispute. His involvement should not be seen to favour India orPakistan, but to advance the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights.
Biden is on record to have said during his election camaign: “In Kashmir, the Indian government should take all necessary steps to restore rights for all the people of Kashmir.” And Vice President Kamala Harris went one step further, “We have to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world.” Let us keep reminding Biden Administration that after all a promise is a promise.
