Daily Times

Kashmir is one of the most idyllic settings in the world. A picturesque valley located between Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and China, it also shares a small strip of around 27 miles of land with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashmir is a natural paradise.

The history of the freedom of Kashmir dates to 1931, when the people of Kashmir, both Hindus and Muslims, initiated a freedom movement against their ruler, to have their own indigenous rule in the region. The resentment of the people led to the ‘Quit Kashmir’ campaign against the Maharaja in 1946. Faced with the insurgency of his people, the Maharaja fled the capitol, Srinagar, on October 25, 1947 and implored India to send its army to help him crush the rebellion. India, coveting the territory, set the condition that the Maharaja would have to sign an ‘Instrument of Accession’ with them, subject to ‘reference to the people.’ The rest is history.

Then India brought the dispute to the United Nations, where the Security Council discussed the question exhaustively from January to April of 1948. It was agreed upon by the governments of India and Pakistan, and approved by the international community, that the dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir could only be settled in accordance with the will of the people, which could be ascertained through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite.

By adopting several resolutions from 1948 to 1962 reaffirming the principle of free choice for the people of Kashmir, the Security Council assumed a moral responsibility to ensure that conditions in Kashmir will permit the exercise of that choice. To disown that responsibility would expose the world organisation to the charge of making hollow promises and, indeed, deceiving a population which is larger than that of many members of the United Nations, individually.

If the UN Secretary General uses his moral and legal authority to resume peaceful dialogue between India and Pakistan, along with the legitimate representatives of the people of Kashmir, then a final settlement of the dispute can be formulated

The people of Kashmir never lost hope either in the United Nations as the custodian of human rights, or in their demand to exercise the right of self-determination. The scale of the popular backing of the uprising in Kashmir can be judged from the established fact that on many occasions during the month of July-August 2018, virtually the entire population of Srinagar and other major towns in the Valley, came out on the streets.They protested attempts by the Government of India to scrap Article 35A of the Indian constitution, which provides special rights and privileges to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its residents. Article 35A also bars foreigners from buying land or immovable property, etc. in the State. The Joint Resistance Leadership and other legal, religious and business fraternities believe that the abrogation of this constitutional provision is a conspiracy to change the demographic composition of the state. However, the Supreme Court of India adjourned the hearting of Article 35A till August 27, 2018.

Continuous violations of basic human rights, frequent massacres, constant fear, hunger and misery — these are the gifts of the Indian occupation to the people of Kashmir. For the populous South Asian subcontinent, the Kashmir situation entails a recurrent possibility of disaster and nuclear war. However, there is a way to bring these atrocities to an end. If the Secretary General of the United Nations uses his moral and legal authority to resume peaceful dialogue between India and Pakistan, along with the legitimate representatives of the people of Kashmir, then a final settlement of the dispute can be formulated.

The Charter of the United Nations empowers its Secretary General to bring any matter which may threaten the maintenance of internal peace and security, to the attention of the Security Council. In consistence with the universally accepted principle that no situation should be allowed to escalate to a point of no return, and that the United Nations should not remain passive in the face of human wrongs being committed on a vast scale, the people of Kashmir expect the Secretary General will not hesitate to exercise his discretion, and highlight the Kashmir issue more heartily.

Should the Secretary General feel that the factual data at his disposal does not justify the use of his power under Article 99 of the UN Charter, we respectfully propose that he urgently dispatch a special representative of high international standing to India and Pakistan, who can visit both parts of Kashmir and report back to the Security Council with the true facts of the situation. In fact, United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has also recommended sending a fact-finding mission to Kashmir to assess the situation there. If India feels that it has nothing to hide, it should welcome such action.

We feel confident that the Secretary General of the United Nations will not encourage any party involved in an international dispute to rebuff its authority. It should be one thing for the United Nations to remain inactive if an alternative and credible peace process were already in motion.

However, it is quite another when there have been no steps taken to promote a bilateral agreement between the parties or through mediation by a friendly government. To put it plainly, the present situation is that the United Nations is allowing its resolutions to be dishonoured and the people of Kashmir to be condemned to systematic torment. The people of Kashmir deserve better.

Dr. Fai is the Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum and can be reached at gnfai2003@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, August 12^th 2018.