Kashmir is a political issue and needs to be resolved through tripartite negotiations. Ghulam Muhammad Safi

Istanbul, Turkey. December 28, 2022.

“Kashmir is a political issue and needs to be resolved through tripartite negotiations between India, Pakistan, and the leadership of All Parties Hurriyat Conference. The denial of right of self-determination that was promised to the people of Jammu & Kashmir by the United Nations Security Council can bring both India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear catastrophe,” Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Safi said at a seminar organized by Istanbul-based NGO, Yeni Dunya Vakfi (The New World Foundation) on the subject of Kashmir. Speakers included: Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference; Mr. Abdul Rashid Turabi, Parliamentarian, Azad Kashmir; Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President World Kashmir Awareness Forum and Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice.

“The presence of 900,000 Indian occupation forces has made Kashmir the largest army concentration anywhere in the world. Today, Kashmir has become literally the most dangerous place on earth. Indian forces have been given the totally immunity under the draconian laws, like Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA), Public Safety Act, (PSA) Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and etc. World powers need to intervene for the sake of international peace and security to resolve the Kashmir conflict once for all,” Ghulam Muhammad Safi added.

Mr. Idris Ergin, Youth President of Foundation welcomed the participants to this important seminar. He said that the vision of the Foundation is that youth should be the leading voice of society. Our aim is to develop and empower them, and to work to build a multifaceted, harmonious and vibrant society. Mr. Ergin added that Education is the basic condition for success. For this reason, our foundation aims to raise our students as highly advanced in science and technology, loyal to their national and spiritual values, hardworking, knowledgeable and at the same time possessing wisdom. Foundation will do everything in its power, Mr. Ergin said to mobilize the public opinion in Turkey to pursue the cause of our brothers and sisters in Kashmir.

Mr. Ahmed Malik of the Foundation emphasized that we want to create a model that brings young people together to network and exchange ideas, develop them to reach their full potential, and generate solutions from the language of young people to build a better society for all. In addition to its contributions to education, the New World Foundation also protects the historical and cultural heritage and presents this precious treasure to the benefit of future generations. Mr. Malik was loud and clear when he said that the youth of Turkey should eb considered as ambassadors of Kashmir.

Mr. Abdul Rashid Turabi said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding the right of self-determination for the last more than seven decades. India responds with bullets, pellet guns to silence the peaceful movement of liberation.

Mr. Turabi added that abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A was designed to crush the freedom movement in Kashmir. But world powers cannot deny the fact that the Kashmir issue has an international sanctity. This was made clear by Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN when he said that Kashmir issue has to be resolved under United Nations Charter and United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“Our interaction with the leadership of Turkey as well as the civil society has always been source of inspiration. The people of Turkey have always expressed their desire to see Kashmir free from Indian occupation,” Mr. Turabi said.

Dr. Ghulam N. Mir said that Kashmir was a full-fledged neo-colonialist experiment of apartheid which Mahatma Gandhi, the founder of India experienced himself as a dark Indian lawyer during his visit to South Africa. Only after he was kicked out of first-class compartment of a train, he tasted the real humiliation for being an Indian expatriate. Even so he pleaded with the White Afrikaner rulers not to end the apartheid for black majority. He, however, asked for separating Indians from local black majority.

Now his people in India, Dr. Mir added, are installing a barbaric settler-colonialist apartheid state in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir no matter what the cost. India will have to face the consequences for trying to wipe out Muslim faith and culture from Kashmir.

Dr. Mir told the audience that the time has come that the world must express solidarity with the oppressed people of Kashmir and the youth from around the world must pay attention, speak out and demonstrate solidarity with the millions of people of Kashmir. You can become the voice of the voiceless people of Kashmir, Dr. Mir emphasized.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai was responding to the statement made by Indian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Arindam Bagchi on December 20, 2022, that ‘Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India.” Dr. Fai said that Kashmir is not and cannot be regarded as an integral part of India because under all international agreements, which were agreed by both India and Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations, endorsed by the Security Council and accepted by the international community, Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the United Nations. If that was true, then the claim that Kashmir is an integral part of India does not stand.

Fai asked if Indian claim was true then why Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said on July 8, 2019, India give the people of Kashmir right to self-determination. She added that the people of Kashmir should be included in all talks between India and Pakistan. Do you have any ideaa, Mr. Bagchi, Fai asked? 

Does the foreign ministry spokesman know, Dr. Fai further asked that Ms. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand told the Parliament on October 15, 12004 said, “It is perfectly obvious to the whole world that Kashmir is a flashpoint for tensions between the two countries. Most countries do not regard it as simply an internal affair.”

Dr. Fai wanted to make sure that Mr. Bagchi knows that Kashmir was not an integral part of India. Fai narrated a story, published in Dalit Voice, Bangalore, India on August 1, 1990 and written by Minoo Masani, Former Indian Ambassador to Brazil. Ambassador Masani wrote, ‘A lady asked me other day, ‘why Gorbachov would not agree to the Lithuanian demand for independence from the Soviet Union.’ I countered with the question: ‘Do you believe that Kashmir belongs to India?’ ‘Yes, of course’ she said. ‘That is why?’ I said, ‘There are too many Russians who wrongly believe that Lithuania belongs to the Soviet Union, just as you believe that Kashmir belongs to India.’

Mr. Abdullah Zubair, young energetic scholar and a friend was the emcee of the seminar. He told the audience that the Foundation will organize more seminars on the subject of Kashmir not only in Istanbul but also in other cities of Turkey.