Speakers call for implementation of UN framework to resolve Kashmir dispute at Geneva seminar
Geneva : Speakers at a seminar titled “Pathways to Peace: Self-Determination as Tool to Conflict Resolution”, held on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), have called for implementation of the United Nations framework to resolve the long-standing Kashmir dispute.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the seminar, organized by International Action for Sustainable Peace and Development (IASPD), maintained that the right to self-determination must be viewed not merely as a legal principle, but as a practical instrument for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and reconciliation.
The panelists highlighted that India’s continued refusal to allow a plebiscite under the UN mandate has allowed the Kashmir dispute to persist for decades, describing the situation as a “smouldering volcano”. They said the failure to resolve the dispute amounts to a failure of the United Nations, while the intransigence, unrealistic approach and brutal use of military force by India have kept the Kashmiri people in a state of continued suffering.
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Referring to the large-scale deployment of Indian forces in the occupied territory, restrictions on civil liberties, seizure of land, religious apartheid and attempts to alter the demographic composition, the speakers said these factors had repeatedly fuelled tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan.
The speakers emphasized that conflict management is an insufficient substitute for a political solution. They maintained that sustainable peace in South Asia requires a free, impartial, and internationally supported process to determine the political will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The seminar concluded that taking into account the historical context and political aspirations of the affected population remains central to achieving a durable and peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The speakers at the event included Dr Sajjad Khan, Director of the Kashmir Peace Research Institute (KPRI); Blerim Mustafa, Adviser to the Geneva Nations Institute; Advocate Parvez Ahmed Shah, General Secretary of the APHC-AJK chapter; and Zahid Hussain Hashmi, President of Peace Forum France.
