Unresolved Kashmir dispute a permanent threat to regional peace: Speakers

• Speakers including Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) Mohammad Nafees Zakaria expressing their grave concerns.
• The status of longstanding international dispute of Kashmir was changed in blatant violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
• This was what Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been cautioning the international community.

LONDON: Speakers including Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) Mohammad Nafees Zakaria expressing their grave concerns over the current worsening human rights violations and humanitarian crisis in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir said that unresolved Kashmir dispute was a permanent threat to peace and prosperity in the region. The seminar on Kashmir was organized by the Pakistan High Commission London the other day to highlight Kashmir solidarity day which was observed every year on October 27. This was the day when in 1947 ,the Indian forces illegally landed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and together with Patiyala troops , already illegally present in Kashmir, Indian Dogra forces and RSS terrorists carried out the genocide of over 300,000 Kashmiris and displaced over one million Kashmiri Muslims. They also discussed the current worst human rights situation and humanitarian crisis in Indian occupied Kashmir since the siege of occupied valley by Indian occupation forces on August 5. The seminar was addressed among others by member of European Parliament Ms.Anthea Mclntyre , renowned jurist Ben Emmerson QC, Kashmiri leader Syed Nazir Gillani, Uzma Rasool, Prof.Nazir Shwal and ,Shameem Shwal of APHC. The speakers on the occasion warned an international community of slow-burning and perpetual genocide of Muslims in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. They also expressed their deep concerns over the siege  of Eight (8) million Kashmiris since August 5,2019 and worsening humanitarian crisis in Indian occupied Kashmir. The British Pakistani and Kashmiri community , Parliamentarians, legal fraternity, cross section of the civil society , representatives of human rights organizations,and media persons attended the seminar.

Speaking on the occasion, High Commissioner, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria took into account multiple facets of the long standing dispute of Kashmir. He traced the genesis of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and said that Kashmir issue was back on the international radar in the wake of illegal actions taken by the Indian BJP government on August 5,2019. The status of longstanding international dispute of Kashmir was changed in blatant violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, which promised Kashmiris right to self determination under UN-supervised the plebiscite ,he remarked. Zakaria said that the siege and the ensuring humanitarian crisis necessitated response from the the international community including the UK. The High Commissioner said that given the Indian forces track record of atrocities and crimes against humanity, it was not beyond comprehension that the stories of tragedies of individual families may start to surface in due course since media, human rights activists or even the relatives have absolutely no access to Kashmiris under siege in IoK. He identified that there were numerous crimes against humanity , committed by the Indian occupation forces, including thousands of massacres since 1989, mass rape of Kashmir women of Kunan, Pashpora ,dilemma of “Half widows", mass blinding and physical tortures, all documented by the international human rights organizations. Zakaria also highlighted that connivance ,manipulation in demarcation of boundaries and deceit were the reasons behind the creation of the Kashmir dispute. He quoted several examples to this effect from the books of renowned authors Alastair Lamb, Victoria Schofield and Sir Christopher Beaumont. High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria concluded that the Kashmir dispute ,which was a political issue, has assumed many other dimensions such as human rights, security and socio-economic impact on the improvised people of the region. This was what Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been cautioning the international community about since August 5,2019, he remarked. He emphasized that it was important for the world to know about the human tragedy in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir before it is too late. In his talk, Dr.Nazir Gillani , President Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR) explained the genesis of Kashmir issue and aftermath of the partition in 1947.

He spoke about the legal framework in which so far the Kashmir dispute has been discussed and dealt with by the UN and various countries including US, UK and others. He called for end to human right abuses in Indian occupied Kashmir and implementation of UNSC resolutions on Kashmir to allow people of Kashmir to decide their future destiny through a UN-sponsored plebiscite. In his remarks British Barrister of international fame and former UN Rapporteur on Human Rights, Ben Emmerson QC spoke on the gross human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir in the light of numerous documented accounts and emphasized on the legal accountability of crimes in IOK. He said Kashmir was facing a unique and possible existential crisis. He deplored the paradoxical irony that it was only when the human rights situation becomes worse that the world starts paying attention to it. Despite documented evidence, Emmerson added that world had turned a blind eye to the glaring atrocities against Kashmiri people. He refuted Indian narrative of Kashmir being an internal matter and termed it to be a Nazi defense against human rights abuses. He said Kashmir is clearly an international crisis. He equated the plight of Kashmiri people to the “slow-burning genocide". He also refuted Indian claims of those killed in IOK as terrorists and said that the International People's Tribunal Report of mass graves proved them to be indigenous Kashmiris by examining their DNA . He noted that no one wanted to see the military solution due to its grave consequences rightly pointed out by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Summing up Emmerson said that given the disproportionate presence of Military in Indian held Kashmir, indigenous people cannot get the right to self-determination through fighting, therefore under the circumstances, it was imperative for the international community to intervene and resolve the conflict. He assured the Kashmiris that he stands with them. In her remarks, Ms.Anthea Mclntyre MEP urged to stop immunity of Indian forces form prosecution for crimes.she called upon all EU countries to condemn what was happening in IOK.She asked how India could expect to be a permanent member of UNSC when its human rights record was so appalling. She added that UK wants trade with India but not at the price of human rights, which is too high price. The MEP recalled her recent visit to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir where she listened to the heart rending stories of the victims of Indian firing along the LOC. The other speakers also highlight the plight of people of Indian occupied Kashmir and atrocities being perpetrated on the defenseless Kashmirirs there who were fighting for their birthright to self determination promised to them by the UNSC.

They called for an immediate end and the siege of IOK by occupation forces  and implementation of UNSC resolutions on Kashmir for peace and prosperity in the region.