US-based Kashmiri group asks India to accept ground realities in Valley
A US-based Kashmiri organisation reminded India on the country’s Republic Day, which was observed on Tuesday, that Kashmir was a disputed territory as recognised by the United Nations and its obduracy to accept the ground realities were a major hurdle in peace in the region.
“For Kashmiris this is not a day to celebrate but a day of mourning, a day of catastrophe when their power of self-determination was taken from them by the occupiers,” Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General World Kashmir Awareness, said in a statement issued in Washington.
“India certainly has the right to celebrate this historic day within its legal boundary. But according to all recognised UN resolutions and other policies adopted by foreign states, Kashmir remains a disputed territory,” he said.
He said that India had a position that had no legal, moral or constitutional authority to celebrate the Republic Day in Kashmir which was not an integral part of its territory. Its advocacy of this is no doubt the prime cause of continued suffering in Kashmir and persistent violations at the Ceasefire Line, sustaining the potential for another all-out war between the two countries.
Dr Fai said that India claimed to be the world’s largest democracy but it had no such democratic intentions for Kashmir as it continued to deny the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination as given to them by the United Nations.
Referring to the historic records, he said that all available evidence showed that India had occupied the territory with its military might on October 27 1947 and that a horrendous act took place against the wishes and will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “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.”
The Kashmiri leader said that India violated the basic right of the people of Kashmir like freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom of travel, freedom of assembly and, above all, freedom to choose their destiny to be a part of India or Pakistan or remain independent. He called on India to accept the ground realities that the resolution of Kashmir would guarantee peace and stability not only in India and Pakistan but also in the whole region of South Asia and beyond.
