Greetings to the People of India on their Independence Day celebration: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai

WASHINGTON, August 14 (SABAH): “India will celebrate its 76th Independence Day to commemorate its independence from colonial British Raj. We extend our warm greetings to the people of India on their Independence Day celebration. India certainly has the right to celebrate this historic day within its legal boundary. However, India persists in allying itself with a position that has no legal, moral or constitutional authority to celebrate this auspicious Day in occupied Kashmir which is not the integral part of its territory. In fact, under the international law, today, Kashmir does not belong to any member country of the United Nations. It is recognized by the United Nations as a disputed territory whose future is yet to be decided by its people,” this was stated by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai added that it is a historical fact that the dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir can be settled only in accordance with the will of the people which can be ascertained through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite, internationally supervised. This was the common ground taken by both India and Pakistan. It was supported without any dissent by the United Nations Security Council – and prominently championed by the United States, Britain and France.

These are not resolutions in the routine sense of the term. Their provisions were negotiated in detail by the United Nations Commission with India and Pakistan, and it was only after the consent of both Governments was explicitly obtained that they were endorsed by the Security Council. They thus constitute a binding and solemn international agreement about the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

“It is beyond any doubt that for more than 76 years, India has treated Kashmiris more like ink blots to be ignored than as human beings to be respected. Indian Government has betrayed most of its high-minded ideals in Indian occupied Kashmir that marked its entry into the family of nations after long years under the British raj: shocking human rights violations, including more than 100,000 killings in the last three decades alone, torture, rape, mutilations, arson, plunder, abductions, arbitrary detentions, and draconian punishment for the exercise of peaceful political dissent; and, contempt for international law and binding self-determination resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai observed.

Dr. Fai added that India’s attempt to legalize its illegality rests on a bogus instrument of accession by a Hindu Maharaja, which the ruler had not authority to sign in any event. All that has been convincingly proven by British Scholar, that the Instrument was as bogus document an original has never been found, and there is no plausible explanation for a disappearance if an original had ever existed. 

India claims to be the largest democracy. The impartial and neutral agencies of the world testify that when it comes to Kashmir, India is nothing but an occupier. To quote Bertrand Russell, “The high idealism of the Indian government in international matters breaks down completely when confronted with the question of Kashmir.”

The United Nations has the opportunity to affect a positive resolution to the conflict and resulting humanitarian situation by promoting the conditions of the original mandate. It is only through international recognition and inclusive representations that a genuine and lasting peace can ensue. The risks of maintaining the status quo – for Kashmir, South Asia and the world – are too great to ignore.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai urged the community of nations to seize this opportunity to promote an initiative towards bringing about conditions necessary for settlement of the Kashmir dispute.  The urgent necessity to help put the issue on the road to the settlement is: to demilitarize the area of conflict –- the State of Jammu & Kashmir –- through a phased withdrawal of the troops (including paramilitary forces) of both India and Pakistan from the area under their respective control.

Dr. Fai quoted US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield who said on MSNBC on July 31, 2023, ‘What they (Russia) are doing undermines everything that the UN stands for. It undermines the Charter of the United Nations.’ Doesn’t Madam Ambassador know, Dr. Fai asked that India equally undermines everything that the UN stands for. India also undermines the Charter of the United Nations by refusing to fulfill its pledge given to the people of Kashmir – right to self-determination. Doesn’t the world community recognize such double standards? How is international credibility and trust engendered by such behavior?