Category: Views

Kashmiris can determine their own political destiny: Dr. Fai

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.

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.

Nuclear Summit reminded that Kashmir was the nuclear flashpoint

Washington, D.C. March 31, 2016. An impressive peaceful demonstration was held during Nuclear Security Summit in front of the Washington D.C. Convention Center wherein hundreds of participants, who came from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington itself were carrying the placards with the message, “ Kashmir: Nuclear flashpoint”; “Time to resolve the Kashmir dispute is now”; “Freedom for all: Freedom for Kashmir”; “Kashmiris demand right of self-determination”; “India: Stop human rights violations in Kashmir.” “Road to Kabul Runs Through Kashmir.”

The participants highlighted that Kashmir was at the brink of a potential nuclear holocaust, and this holocaust was occurring because the root cause of independence and freedom for Kashmir had not been adequately addressed. Kashmir has ignited two wars between the estranged South Asian rivals in 1948 and 1965, and a third could trigger nuclear volleys and a nuclear winter threatening the entire globe. The United States would enjoy no sanctuary. Both India and Pakistan are racing like thoroughbreds to bolster their nuclear arsenals and advanced delivery vehicles. Their defense budgets are climbing despite widespread misery amongst their populations.

Kashmir and the Nuclear Threat

The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.” Martin Luther King

“Nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.” Philip Berrigan, American Peace Activist.

The nuclear age has placed in the world’s lap a growing and complex set of threats that create the possibility of an all-out holocaust in some part of the world almost every day. We now have North Korea threatening Seoul, testing intercontinental ballistic missiles and bragging about hydrogen bombs. Few people know that the Korean War has never ended. The Armistice Agreement was just a ceasefire. No formal treaty was ever signed. Then there’s NATO playing war games at Russia’s borders, with generals talking about taking back Crimea. And let’s not forget Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who has threatened to attack Iran unilaterally if no one else does it. But in South Asia, the mainstream media seems to overlook frequently a continuous and ongoing threat of another kind.

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.

The JNU Protest: The Right to Dissent

In many respects the brouhaha over the Jawahar Lal Nehru (JNU) protest and the arrest of the student union president Kanhaiya Kumar can be counted as a good thing, in that it has brought the issue of Kashmir again into the national limelight, encouraging discussion and dialogue about self-determination.

Kashmir is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but yet it is being treated like dirt under the rug. Responsibility for it must ultimately be faced, because, sooner or later, it will be exposed. The authorities will hope that the JNU protest and Afzal Guru can be swept under the rug of the Indian conscience too. But repression invariably brings about the very opposite.

Kashmir is not forgotten. We are not going to let it happen: Dr. Korhola

Washington, D.C. February 6, 2106. “It is in the interest of world peace that India and Pakistan need to resolve the Kashmir dispute to the satisfaction of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The final and durable settlement of the Kashmir dispute will undoubtedly guarantee peace and stability in the region of South Asia. It will also have a great impact on the international peace and security,” this was stated by Dr. Eija-Riitta Korhola who served as the member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament and who was the key-note speaker at the Kashmir Solidarity Day event organized here by friends of Kashmir in Washington, DC metropolitan area and beyond. The event was attended by a large number of people interested in peace and stability in the region of South Asia.

Dr. Korhola added, “Kashmir is not forgotten. We are not going to let it happen. Why? Because as human beings we cannot afford ignoring basic right of self-determination. She emphasized, “The Kashmir problem was in many ways created by one of our members in the EU. When the British left India in 1947, they left without defining the future of Kashmir. Because of this historical background Europe has a special responsibility to make sure that the Kashmiri people will get the right to have the promised referendum to define their own future.”

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.

Twelfth International Kashmir Conference Concluded in New York

New York. December 11, 2015. Twelfth International Kashmir Peace Conference, entitled, “Beyond the Blame Game: Finding Common Grounds for Peace and Justice in Kashmir,” organized by International Educational Development (IED) at the Church Center of the United Nations, New York, attended among others by the academics, researchers, the delegates from various United Nations Missions, representatives of the United Nations NGO’s, social and civil rights activists, political analysts and prominent Americans of South Asian origin, began with the key-note speech delivered by Hon. Ramsey Clark, 66th Attorney General of the United States.

International Educational Development :: Kashmir Peace Conference

International Educational Development

(an NGO accredited with the United Nations)

Invites you to

Kashmir Peace Conference

Beyond the Blame Game: Finding Common Ground for Peace & Justice in Kashmir

Date: Monday, December 7, 2015

Venue:  Church Center, 777  First Avenue at 44th Street. New York, NY 10017.

Time: Registration begins at 9.30 a.m.