World muteness emboldened India to chilling campaign of atrocities against Kashmiris: Dr Fai

An informative and educational session on ‘Global Injustice” was organized at Sheraton Hotel, Edison, New Jersey, with the topic included injustices in Kashmir, Palestine and Indian minorities.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, ‘World Forum for Peace and Justice’, said that seeming conspiracy of silence over gross affronts to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir – an occupation which itself violates still binding Security Council resolutions dictating a self-determination there under international and impartial supervision – is worrisome.

He said that unheroic muteness of world powers has emboldened India to a chilling campaign of human rights atrocities against innocent Kashmiris. He deplored that 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces operate outside the rule of law under the protective umbrella of an Indian immunity statute.

The movement in Kashmir, Fai highlighted, reverberates with cries of Aazadi (freedom) and believes in a simple truth: a fair, impartial referendum held under the auspices of the United Nations. “Attempts at delegitimizing the Kashmiri struggle have fallen entirely on deaf ears. No amount of wishful thinking has successfully persuaded growing international opinion that Kashmir is not an integral part of any society other than its own. This belief is unshakeable, consistent, and formidable,” Fai emphasized.

He warned that if India or Pakistan or any other power would like to bring pressure on the people of Kashmir to capitulate, or to agree to any terms which will compromise their freedom, then any so-called peace process is foredoomed. The people of Kashmir wish to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind on that score, he added.

Fai clarified that Kashmir is the gordian knot of peace and prosperity in South Asia. A just and final resolution of its sovereignty in accord with the wishes of the people of Kashmir is of utmost regional and international importance, he maintained.

“India’s image suffers far more from the obvious duplicity and an incorrigible unwillingness to confront openly its wrong-headed policies than it would if it just laid its cards on the table. The flaunting of its inhumanity — as if to say, we’re going to do it and you can’t do anything about it” — is only deepening its commitment to permanent conflict and suffering in Kashmir. It’s time for the international community to act decisively and intervene in the interest of global peace to settle the Kashmir dispute to the satisfaction of all parties concerned – India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir,” explained Fai

The US was once considered a shining example to the rest of the world of what democracy can mean, and yet, now, too, we see a complete breakdown of this grand vision at its very source that awakened generations of people to hope for real change. What is the significance of an alliance between the great democracy (US) and so-called largest democracy in the world (India) when universal principles, democratic values and human rights are completely ignored, Fai asked?

Fai expressed his anguish by saying that it is quite unfortunate that the Biden administration and the United Nations both have chosen to adopt India’s view that Kashmir is simply a bilateral issue. He said unfortunately, it is the Big Lie, and an extremely dangerous one, adding India and Pakistan remain on the verge of war with each other, and this is a threat to international peace.

Fai suggested that the breaking of the impasse over Kashmir between India and Pakistan would be greatly facilitated by the presence of a facilitator, a person of an international standing, like Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, who would define the obligations of the parties under the agreements concluded between them, spell out the contentious issues and the conflicting positions and remove the confusion about what needs to be done to narrow the gap.