![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/10\/e.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When India and Afghanistan issued their recent joint declaration referring to \u201cJammu and Kashmir, India,\u201d it was more than a diplomatic oversight; it was a moral rupture. For Kashmiris, the statement was an act of betrayal disguised as diplomacy, a calculated attempt to recast an international dispute as a settled internal matter. Across the Kashmir Valley and diaspora, outrage followed swiftly.<\/p>\n
The joint statement triggered sharp protests in Islamabad, with Pakistan summoning the Afghan envoy to convey its \u201cstrong reservations.\u201d The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, in an official statement on October 10, 2025, declared that Pakistan\u2019s concerns had been \u201cconveyed to Afghanistan\u2019s Ambassador to Pakistan by the Additional Foreign Secretary (West Asia & Afghanistan).\u201d It noted that the reference to Jammu and Kashmir as part of India \u201cis in clear violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the legal status of Jammu and Kashmir,\u201d adding that the declaration was \u201chighly insensitive to the sacrifices and sentiments of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why such indignation? Because the international status of Kashmir is not a matter of semantics but of law. The United Nations Security Council passed multiple resolutions, including 38 (January 17, 1948), 47 (April 21, 1948), 51 (June 3, 1948), 80 (March 14, 1950), 91 (March 30, 1951), and 122 (January 24, 1957), affirming that the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir must be determined through a \u201cfree and impartial plebiscite under UN supervision.\u201d These resolutions remain unimplemented, and their spirit continues to guide Kashmir\u2019s demand for self-determination. Referring to the territory as an integral part of India, as the Indo-Afghan declaration did, disregards decades of international consensus and insults the sacrifices of countless Kashmiris who have suffered displacement, imprisonment, and death in pursuit of freedom.<\/p>\n
The outrage deepened because the perceived betrayal came from Kabul, a government that identifies as Islamic and once voiced solidarity with oppressed Muslims. Many in Kashmir had long looked to Afghanistan as a moral ally, a state that knew the pain of occupation and foreign intervention. To see the Taliban-led government echo New Delhi\u2019s position was, in the eyes of many Kashmiris, a capitulation driven by political expediency rather than principle.<\/p>\n
For the people of Kashmir, the Afghan Foreign Minister\u2019s remarks represented \u201can open disregard of UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute\u201d and a betrayal of Islamic solidarity. Many argued that instead of siding with an occupying power, Kabul should have supported the Kashmiri people\u2019s internationally recognized struggle for self-determination.<\/p>\n
That struggle remains far from symbolic. Since India\u2019s unilateral abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s autonomy has been stripped away, its legislative structure dismantled, and its demographics altered through settler policies and mass detentions. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented thousands of arbitrary arrests, restrictions on the press, and prolonged internet shutdowns. Political leaders, many from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, languish in jails such as Delhi\u2019s Tihar, often denied medical care or legal counsel.<\/p>\n
The Indo-Afghan joint declaration thus feels less like an expression of regional cooperation and more like an attempt to erase the lived reality of Kashmiri suffering. It seeks to normalize occupation by enlisting Muslim neighbors in India\u2019s diplomatic narrative, a narrative that has long sought to frame the conflict as an internal matter.<\/p>\n
Yet the world has not entirely looked away. As recently as September 2025, former U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that Kashmir \u201cremains an unresolved issue that should be settled peacefully,\u201d reaffirming his earlier offers to mediate between India and Pakistan. His comments, reported by AP News and Al Jazeera, revived global discussion of a dispute India insists is closed but that international law and historical commitments keep open.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan\u2019s decision to align with India at such a moment of renewed global focus has compounded Kashmiri disillusionment. While Kabul may seek economic or political favor from New Delhi, its stance undermines the very principles of justice and solidarity that it once claimed to uphold. A government that endured decades of foreign invasion should have understood the moral gravity of aligning with an occupying power.<\/p>\n
For Kashmiris, the path forward remains unchanged. They continue to demand dignity, the restoration of fundamental rights, and fulfillment of the UN-mandated plebiscite. Their struggle endures not as a campaign of grievance but as a moral cause rooted in international law and the conscience of humanity.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan\u2019s choice may bring it short-term diplomatic comfort, but history will judge it harshly. By abandoning a just cause for political convenience, Kabul has traded its moral voice for momentary favor. Kashmiris, however, will not forget, and they will not relent. Their cause remains alive in the shadow of betrayal, carried forward by an unbroken will for justice and freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When India and Afghanistan issued their recent joint declaration referring to \u201cJammu and Kashmir, India,\u201d it was more than a diplomatic oversight; it was a moral rupture. For Kashmiris, the statement was an act of betrayal disguised as diplomacy, a calculated attempt to recast an international dispute as a settled internal matter. Across the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":185620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/10\/e.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185621,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185619\/revisions\/185621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}