Referendum under UN supervison in Kashmir is the only way to ensure lasting peace in South Asia
London-
01 March 2019: Secretary General of the
United Nations Mr Antonio Guterres has been told in a letter to him that as
long as Kashmir remains a bone of contention between India and Pakistan South
Asian region will face a catastrophic and horrendous war over the Kashmir
dispute.
The
letter written by Zafar Khan the Diplomatic affairs head of the JKLF, referred
to military actions taken against each other by
Indian and Pakistani forces, which presented an imminent threat of full scale war
between the two countries over the Kashmir dispute, and pointed out that these
actions have dangerously added to an already existing volatile situation not
only for twenty million people of Kashmir, but for the entire region of South
Asia and beyond.
In
the letter he reminds the Secretary General that Kashmir has been a bone of
contention between India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir for more than
seven decades, and in view of the looming catastrophe people of Kashmir
desperately, and impatiently expect statesmanship and leadership role from the
UN Secretary General to take decisive steps for a lasting solution of the
Kashmir dispute.
In
the letter Khan strongly urged the Secretary General to ensure that the
imminent danger of war between India and Pakistan is averted with post- haste,
and that at this crucial juncture in the situation over Kashmir, the UN takes
strong and firm actions to end the dispute with a just and lasting solution on
the political status of the territory, which will bring about an end to the
conflict, and suffering that has caused incalculable miseries for millions of
Kashmiris since 1947.
Khan
Exhorts the Secretary General by saying that in order to achieve the cherished and noble objective
of lasting peace, prosperity and empathy in the region, the United Nations must assume full
control of Kashmir’s administration, and ask India and Pakistan to vacate
the entire state on both sides of the Line of Control –LoC- within three
months.
He
reminded the Secretary General that an ultimate objective of sane human beings
must be to strive for peace and prosperity in society, which unfortunately for
Kashmiris, as an objective, has remained a mirage due to the conflict, and
uncertainty as a direct consequence of Indo-Pakistan confrontation over the
past seventy two years.
Zafar
Khan emphasised to Mr Guterres that Kashmiris have strong, and compelling reasons to
expect from the UN and its Secretary
General that he takes their sincere and
considered appeal, seriously and engages with India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri
leadership, to set a time-frame within which his administration would be able to organise, and
prepare for a free, fair and democratic
referendum so that Kashmiris would be enabled and empowered to decide on the political status of their
homeland through the exercise of their inherent and inalienable right of
self-determination.
He
pointed out to Mr Guterres that a free, fair and
democratic was the only way-forward out of the Kashmir dispute, which otherwise
will remain an ongoing threat to peace in the region, if God forbid it is not
already too late!
The
UN Secretary General was apprised through the letter that India and Pakistan
have fought costly wars over Kashmir in the past, in which citizens of Kashmir
have always suffered the most. Another war between the nuclear armed neighbours
will cause an annihilation for 20 million Kashmiris as well as for India, Pakistan
and their neighbours in the region with an irredeemable destruction.
Secretary General was told by Zafar Khan that
even when India and Pakistan are supposedly at ‘peace,’ deployment of tens of
thousands of their troops in the territory present an existential danger to
millions of civilians, and that as he was no doubt fully aware, Kashmiris have never reconciled with the
status quo as it is the basis of uncertainty over Kashmir’s future, and that Kashmiris
have continued to struggle since 1947 for a free, fair, transparent and
democratic process to regain the right to decide on the status of their
country. He was reminded that he is also fully aware that Kashmiris continue to
suffer immensely as a consequence of status quo and the entrenchment of
Indo-Pakistan positions on the question of Kashmir’s status.
The
letter informed the UN Secretary General that Kashmiris are the principle and
most aggrieved party in the conflict, and they expect the Secretary General of
the UN as the custodian of the world conscience, to accept their right to
insist that UN’s moral and legal authority must be exercised in the interest of
peace and justice.
And
that the Secretary General of the UN will impress upon the leaders of India and
Pakistan that neither their 1.5 billion combined population, nor the twenty million
people of Kashmir must be held hostage in perpetuity to the dangers of an
unresolved and uncertain status of Kashmir.
The Secretary General was reminded therefore,
that a UN administered and supervised referendum remained the only democratic and
peaceful method for the resolution of Kashmir’s political status permanently.
Zafar
Khan further reminded Mr Guterres that the Indo- Pakistan presence in an
undecided Kashmir will inevitably perpetuate the ongoing conflict,
confrontation and war between India and Pakistan. And their presence is also
inconsistent with the aspirations and wishes of the people unless and until,
there is an opportunity for them to give a free and a democratic verdict on the
question of their country’s future.
The
Secretary General of the United Nations, was told that it was not in the
interest of any people or nation, to be a bone of contention between two
powerful countries, as indeed Kashmir and its people are, between their neighbours,
India and Pakistan.
Mr
Guterres was informed that Kashmiris, like any other people want peace and
peaceful resolution of the conflict. And that they wish well for the peoples of
India and Pakistan, and insist that their country and they wish to become a bridge of peace between India and
Pakistan instead of a bone of contention. Secretary General was told in the letter that
“Kashmiris seek your help and support, to enable them to become that bridge of
peace in South Asia”!
Mahmoud Hussain
Secretary of the Diplomatic Bureau
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
119-123 Cannon Street Road,
Basement North
London
E1 2LX
Secretary of the Diplomatic Bureau
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
119-123 Cannon Street Road,
Basement North
London
E1 2LX
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