Global Kashmiri Diaspora pivotal at this opportune moment: Fai

February 28, 2025Last Updated: February 28, 2025

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Washington: The Chairman of World Forum for Peace & Justice, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, has said that the Kashmir question is one of the oldest unresolved international problems in the world.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai was addressing an international webinar, “Kashmir: An International Dimension’, organized by ‘Voices of Justice in Kashmir.”

He said there are certain characteristics of the situation in Kashmir, which distinguishes it from all other deplorable human rights situations around the world. First, it prevails in what is recognized – under international law and by the world powers – as a disputed territory, he added.

He said 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 UN supervision. Second, Kashmir is the only conflict where the solution of the problem was suggested by parties themselves – India & Pakistan. Thirdly, Kashmir is the only region which shares borders with three nuclear countries – India, Pakistan and China.

Dr Fai said that when the Kashmir dispute erupted in 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 resolution # 47 which was adopted by the Security Council on 21 April 1948 and which was based on that unchallenged principle.

Dr Fai quoted President Barack Obama who said on November 6, 2008, that he might consider appointing former President Bill Clinton as special envoy on Jammu and Kashmir in an effort to resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. President Obama indicated his intention to make such a move in an interview with Joe Klein of ‘Time’ magazine ahead of his election as president. He told the weekly Time magazine that he has sounded out Clinton, who has had first-hand experience dealing with the Subcontinent, having played a role in ending the Kargil issue in the summer of 1999. When asked specifically about Clinton playing a role in redefining Pakistan’s relations with India over Kashmir, Obama was quoted as saying, “Might not be bad. I actually talked to Bill, I talked to President Clinton about this when we had lunch” at Harlem in New York recently. In the interview, he also wondered why India wants to ‘keep on messing’ with the Kashmir issue which is a ‘potential tar pit diplomatically’.

Regarding the stand of the Trump Administration on Kashmir, Dr. Fai quoted President Trump saying on October 17, 2016, in New Jersey that he’d be willing to play a mediating role in addressing the “very, very hot tinderbox” of Kashmir between India and Pakistan. “If it was necessary, I would do that. If we could get India and Pakistan getting along, I would be honored to do that. That would be a tremendous achievement … I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator.”

Dr. Fai explained that it’s very clear that Kashmir needs a strong and determined will and the genius of an imagination that has the negotiating skills and knows how to bring people together. Without reservation, it can be said that the person who becomes instrumental in resolving the issue of Kashmir – 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 honor to the one who helped to achieve it. That honor could be President-elect Donald J Trump. His leadership in helping to settle the Kashmir dispute should not be seen to favor India or Pakistan but to advance the cause of freedom, democracy, and human rights.

Dr. Fai quoted other world leaders who have shown their willingness to help resolve the Kashmir dispute, including President Nelson Mandela who said on September 2, 1998, that “All of us remain concerned that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir should be solved through peaceful negotiations and should be willing to lend all the strength we have to the resolution of this matter.” And Russian President Vladimir Putin said on December 3, 2004, that “India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir dispute in the interest of peace in South Asia and the rest of the world.” And Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata– who said on July 4, 1995, that “Kashmir is a thorny issue and unless India takes initiatives to resolve this key problem, peace in South Asia remains threatened”

When asked about the latest situation in Kashmir, Dr. Fai responded that after the abrogation of Article 370 & 35A on August 5, 2019, India enacted Domicile Law to change the demography of Kashmir. More than 4.3 domicile certificates have been issued to non-Kashmiris to allow them to reside inside the state. Today, India is the worst example of settler colonization. It is reported that the government of India has earmarked 203005 acres of land in Jammu & Kashmir for land grab. Besides, the Indian army is engaged in confiscating local homes and evacuating the locals from their business establishments, All of these actions are perpetrated by the Indian Government with one singular purpose: to prevent the implementation of the UN resolutions. And yet, the global Kashmir diaspora leadership has been unable to respond effectively to this political and humanitarian crisis.

When asked about the All parties Hurriyat Conference, Dr. Fai acknowledged that at this guardedly propitious time, the role of global Kashmiri diaspora leadership is pivotal, and its responsibilities are correspondingly great, in particular when the Kashmiri political resistance leadership – Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam and others are incarcerated. Yasin Malik is facing the situation of life and death. In approaching a Kashmir resolution, the global Kashmiri diaspora, irrespective of their political preferences, must understand that the sole non- negotiable issue should be respecting the consensus of the people of all five regions of the state of Jammu & Kashmir with whom sovereignty resides.

In response to the assertion of Kshitij Tyagi, the Indian delegate to the UN in Geneva, who said yesterday, that ‘the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,’ Dr. Fai said Tyagi’s statement was factually and legally wrong. Because under all international agreements, accepted by both India & Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations and endorsed 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 of Mr. Tyagi that Kashmir was an integral part of India does not stand.

The emcee of the webinar was Dr. Waris Ali Khan, Assistant Professor at National University of Modern Languages (NUML and Chairman, International Advisory Board of ‘Voices of Justice in Kashmir ‘and was attended by few dozen graduate students from NUML, Quaid-e-Azam University and International Islamic University Islamabad.

Others who participated as guest exerts included, Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary, Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWA) and Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan Khan, Director, Community Outreach, Voices of Justice in Kashmir.