Assuaging the complexities
of the Kashmir Issue by freezing it! Junaid Qureshi
Distinguished guests,
Before starting with my speech, I would like to
congratulate the organizers for hosting such an important and successful event
at this epitome of diplomacy. I am thankful to you for inviting me once again
to share my views and become part of your endeavours. I am hopeful that going
forward, you and I can together strive to provide more space to the youth of
Jammu & Kashmir, in order to enable them to share their views in such
august gatherings.
Being a Kashmiri Muslim from the Valley of Kashmir, makes
me worry about the injustice and human right violations there. At the same
time, I - as a Kashmiri - am equally concerned about the fate of the Kashmiris
living in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan Administered Kashmir, Jammu & Ladakh.
For me, the State of Jammu & Kashmir comprises much
more than the Kashmir Valley only.
I am here as a representative of the whole state of Jammu
& Kashmir. A state which belongs to all State Subjects, irrespective of
their religion, caste, creed or colour. A state which is equally mine as it is
of Dogras, Kashmiri Pandits, Bakarwals, Dards, Baltis, Ladakhis, Pushwaris,
Gujjars and all other ethnicities.
It is with the utmost respect and with the utmost pain as
well, that I have to conclude that the international community of Human Rights
defenders along with the United Nations has failed us Kashmiris.
It couldn’t stop Pakistan from proposing changes to the
clauses of the UN resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir and thereby allowed the
issue to transform into a mere territorial dispute between India and
Pakistan.
Since the dawn of the 22nd of October, 1947, it
has also failed in freeing my land from invading forces.
It could not prevent Pakistan from gifting more than 5000sq
miles of Jammu & Kashmir to China under the pretext of their Border
Agreement of 1963.
It failed again when the issue of 20 million Kashmiris
was further marginalized into a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan when
they both signed the Shimla Agreement.
It failed to act when a proxy war was started by the
Pakistani military establishment in the Kashmir Valley, whereby it used
innocent young Kashmiris as sacrificial lambs.
It also, did not react when human right violations were
committed by the Indian Security Forces.
It silently watched when ethnic cleansing of my Kashmiri
Pandit brethren took place by the hands of fundamentalists.
And currently, it is silently silent when Pakistan is
undertaking steps to formally annex Gilgit Baltistan, while China is aiming to
cement its stake in the Kashmir-issue by building an illegal economic corridor
through this part of Jammu & Kashmir.
Both these actions of Pakistan and China are deliberate
attempts to further exacerbate the complexities of the Kashmir-Issue and
jeopardize any kind of solution while totally negating the interests of the
people of Jammu & Kashmir.
The Kashmir-issue along with its many interrelated layers
like proxy warfare, political and historical sensitivities and the contention
over water resources remains the biggest threat to peace and development in
South-Asia. Sadly, we Kashmiris continue to suffer the heaviest losses because
of the hostility between India and Pakistan.
Let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen.
We all have failed in solving the Kashmir-Issue and
liberating the Kashmiri people and the common people of India and Pakistan from
uncertainty and hostility.
Yet, my longing for peace has not been extinguished. It
is because of this deep desire for peace that I have come here again.
With a wish.
A wish to stop the bloodshed and the destruction of my generation.
A wish of peace.
Peace, which should be superior to anyone’s ideology or
stated positions. We Kashmiris are fed-up with this violence. This borrowed gun
has brought us to the edge of destruction. It has looted us from our dignity
and snatched our identity. It has corrupted our pillars of secularism,
brotherhood, tolerance and Kashmiriyat.
It must stop before it obliterates our very existence.
The Kashmir-Issue undoubtedly requires a political
solution, but first the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan are in urgent
need of liberation from fear and uncertainty.
Maybe solving the Kashmir-Issue is a task too great for
our generation. Perhaps we should be compelled to conclude from the past 70 odd
years that solutions can only be found in an atmosphere of tranquillity, which
we have failed to conceive.
Based on that, I think that we all should try to establish
that atmosphere of tranquillity, so that the next generation might have a much
more realistic chance to solve this deadlock.
I have come here to make an appeal to the International
Community, the United Nations and the human rights defenders present here; We Kashmiris
need your help in facilitating an atmosphere of tranquillity, mutual trust and
dialogue between India and Pakistan which could pave the way for an alternative
narrative in the future. A solution oriented narrative, which can only be
followed if a harmonious environment is created.
I believe that we should formally freeze the
Kashmir-issue for the next 20 years in order to de-freeze it.
During these twenty years, India and Pakistan should
solve all other outstanding issues which will ensure economic and political
interdependency among both the countries, demolish the erected walls of hatred
and eventually assuage the complexities of this conflict.
While freezing the Kashmir-issue, both countries should demonstrate
the utmost flexibility by giving something back to us Kashmiris. This will pave
the way of satisfying our genuine demands, create a tangible sense of hope and
at the same time address our intangible, yet undeniable yearning of regaining
our lost dignity.
Total withdrawal of armed forces in both parts of Jammu
& Kashmir, revocation of laws like PPO, AFSPA and PSA, immediate halt to
terrorism and religious extremism sponsored by rogue elements in the Pakistani
military establishment and extremist religious parties, release of all
political prisoners in Indian- and Pakistani Administered Kashmir,
establishment of judicial enquiry commissions on disappearances and political
killings like the one of Arif Shahid in 2013, rejection of violence and
displays thereof by all stakeholders without any selectiveness, rehabilitation
of Kashmiri Pandits according to their wishes, dispensation of justice and
opening up of the borders in order to facilitate people-to-people interaction, are
immediate steps which could provide some relief to the Kashmiri people and at
the same time address the growing trust deficit.
The de facto border, LOC, should be made irrelevant and free
movement of goods, persons, services and capital should be guaranteed. Pakistan
should ensure that no further attempts will be made to disassemble Gilgit
Baltistan from Jammu & Kashmir.
A sustainable economy consisting of models for industrial,
agricultural and touristic developments should be encouraged and invested upon
by both countries.
Full autonomy should be given to the Kashmiri people on
both sides by constituting regional assemblies in all the five regions and only
the portfolios of Defence, Foreign affairs and Currency should be managed by
India and Pakistan respectively in their current administered parts of J&K.
Simultaneously, an institutionalized Intra-Kashmir
dialogue should be facilitated in all the 5 regions of Jammu & Kashmir, in
order to enable us Kashmiris to create a genuine consensus regarding our
future.
I firmly believe that an everlasting solution to the
Kashmir-issue will naturally follow this freezing period. When both countries
will have solved all other outstanding issues and Kashmiris would have
liberated themselves from violence, religious extremism and proxy warfare, none
of the parties would be willing, NOT to solve this entanglement.
The interrelated stakes, collective appetite for peace, economic
progress and the respective introspection among all stakeholders would
necessitate a solution based on the principles of give-and-take.
The interdependency will inevitably make giving less
painful, while it will diminish the urge of taking.
It has already taken too much from us Kashmiris.
We cannot afford to give anything, anymore.
Speech
of Junaid Qureshi during a Side-event seminar, ‘Human Rights situation in South
Asia’, at the 31st Session of the United Nations Human Rights
Council in Geneva on the 10th of March 2016.
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