ISLAMABAD, Aug 12 (DNA): Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General, World
Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) said that Kashmiris in Kashmir, the
United States and worldwide will observe the 75th anniversary of the
unimplemented UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolution of
August 13, 1948.

That resolution states that ‘the Government of India and the Government
of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the state of
Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the
people.’ There was much in the resolution that was controversial between
India and Pakistan, Dr. Fai added but the proposal of a plebiscite was
not.

In a statement, he said, that resolution states that ‘the Government of
India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future
status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in
accordance with the will of the people.’

He said, there was much in the resolution that was controversial between
India and Pakistan but the proposal of a plebiscite was not.

“That is clear from the statement made on January 28, 1948 by Ambassador
Fernand van Langenhove of Belgium as the President of the Security
Council. He said that ‘the documents at our disposal show agreement
between the parties on the following points: the plebiscite must be
conducted under conditions which will ensure complete impartiality; and
the plebiscite will therefore be held under the aegis of the United
Nations,” he added.

Dr Fai reminded that the US, the UK, and France have traditionally been
committed supporters of the plebiscite agreement as the only way to
resolve the Kashmir dispute.

They sponsored all of the Security Council resolutions which called for
a plebiscite. Their commitment was indicated by a personal appeal made
by America’s President Harry Truman and Britain’s Prime Minister Clement
Atlee that differences over demilitarization be submitted to arbitration
by the Plebiscite Administrator, a distinguished American war hero:
Admiral Chester Nimitz. In addition, Senator Frank Graham of America
visited the Subcontinent as the UN representative to negotiate the
demilitarization of Kashmir prior to the plebiscite. India objected to
American acting as a Plebiscite Administrator.

Dr Fai said, if this day could be observed in peace, it could have been
a fitting tribute to the members of the UNCIP who had adopted the
resolution unanimously.

But the studied unconcern by the United Nations has given a sense of
total impunity to India. It has also created the impression that the
United Nations is invidiously selective about the application of the
principles of human rights and democracy. He pointed out that
frustration at India’s intransigence and the world’s hesitation to
fulfill its commitment drove the people of Kashmir to be more assertive
in their struggle.

He added that in the past 33 years of struggle, since 1990 alone,
Kashmiris have suffered the loss of more than 100,000 civilians – men,
women and children, and have borne the perpetration of countless
atrocities by more than 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces
concentrated in Kashmir as an army of occupation.

Dr Fai pointed out that India’s occupation of Kashmir has been left
undisturbed by the international community, even though its validity has
never been accepted. At no stage, however, have the people of Kashmir
shown themselves to be reconciled to it.

Kashmir’s record of opposition to its annexation by the Indian Union can
by no standard be reckoned as less genuinely demonstrated than that of
the countries of Eastern Europe under the dominance of the Soviet Union.
But while the popular revolt in the countries of Eastern Europe was
observed and reported by the international media, that in Kashmir has
remained largely hidden from the world’s view.

That is the reason that the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) has said that ‘news media in Kashmir is at the brink
of extinction.’

Today, Dr Fai said, the consensus is that Kashmir conflict remains the
underlying cause of the nuclear confrontation between the two
neighboring countries. Without a just and lasting peace in Kashmir that
vindicates self-determination, trying to reduce missile and nuclear
arsenals in South Asia will be an exercise in futility.

“We still believe that Biden Administration despite its huge trade
agreements with India can and should, lead the effort to achieve a fair
and lasting settlement of the dispute – fair to the people most
immediately involved and fair to its own commitments to democracy and
human rights. By doing so, the US can strengthen the principles of a
just world order. It will also earn the gratitude of generations in
Kashmir, in Pakistan and even in India itself,” he pointed out. DNA

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