Speakers urge UN to play its role in resolving Kashmir issue

LAHORE: The United Nations must fulfill its obligations by intervening in the conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, said Fahim Kayani, president of Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK.

Addressing a conference to mark the Right to Self-determination Day in favour of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmiri (IIOJ&K), Kashmiri diaspora leaders urged Pakistan to sustain its effort to break the newly-imposed status quo on IIOJ&K by India. “The mandate with which the UN was formed was to ensure world peace and if there is any grave threat to world peace, it is due to non-resolution of the Kashmir dispute, especially because of non-action by the United Nations,” Kayani said at a conference held in Birmingham on Wednesday. Lamenting inaction by the world body, Kayani said the failure of the League of Nations to avert the World War II resulted in its death. “It was the failure of the League of Nations to avoid harm to world peace that resulted in the UN creation and today when three nuclear powers are head-to-head against each other in IIOJ&K, the UN must wake up and save the world from a big disaster which can unfold any time,” Kayani said, referring to India whose nuclear assets are in RSS-led Hindu fascists, posing danger to the world peace.

The Tehreek-e-Kashmir president said the January 5, 1949 resolution is base for the freedom struggle in IIOJ&K as “this resolution supersedes any domestic legal change brought by India.” “The unilateral and illegal actions by the Indian fascist regime has no bearing on the UN resolutions; rather India is the big violator of international conventions and resolutions on Kashmir,” he said. “But the question is why is the UN silent,” Kayani asked, urging the international community to halt the ongoing genocide by India in IIOJ&K.

Afzal Khan MP, shadow minster for Justice, told the conference that IIOJ&K has turned into the highest concentration militarized zone in the world. “There are 3 nuclear powers in dispute,” he said, referring to the 1962 Sino-India conflict and India-Pakistan wars. “In the 21st century, this is an unacceptable colonial behaviour,” he said regarding India’s occupation of Kashmir. The British lawmaker said India brought radical changes sin IIOJ&K since August 5, 2019.

Andrew Gwynne MP, chair of Labour Friends of Kashmir, said in his message that the right to self-determination is the most fundamental human right from which all other rights flow. “This is the right denied to Kashmiris for too many generations,” he said. “We ask the international community to now come together and make good on that promise.”

James Daly MP, chair of Conservative Friends of Kashmir, said the action taken by India on August 5, 2019 “constitute a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and bilateral Pakistan-India agreements, such as the 1972 Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration”. “India’s unilateral decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution on August 5, 2019 has hampered the chances of a renewed peace between the two nuclear powers,” said Daly in his message to commemorate the Right to Self-determination Day for Kashmiris. “India now has a choice. It can continue with the lockdown and curfew or support peace in Kashmir. For me, the most disturbing aspect in Indian-administered Kashmir is the human rights violations which have not only devastated the region but also severely tainted India’s image as the world’s largest democracy,” he said, calling on New Delhi to “end the curfew and focus its attention on preserving human rights, implementing the rule of law and economic development”.