By TwoCircles.net news desk
London, U.K.: The Kashmir dispute is primarily the issue of self-determination which is a basic principle of the United Nations Charter that has been reaffirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The issue involves the life and future of the 14 million people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of Washington-based Kashmiri American Council\Kashmir Center during the two-day International Kashmir Conference in London, U.K.
Dr. Fai reiterated that the denial of this right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir has brought India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. The issue was upheld equally by both India and Pakistan when the Kashmir dispute was brought before the Security Council in 1948. The international agreements were agreed upon by the United Nations and endorsed by the Security Council.
Dr. Fai reminded the audience that the United States and Britain have traditionally been committed supporters of the plebiscite agreement as the only way to resolve this issue. They sponsored all of the Security Council resolutions which called for a plebiscite. Their commitment was indicated by a personal appeal made by America’s President Harry Truman and Britain’s Prime Minister Clement Atlee that differences over demilitarization be submitted to arbitration by the Plebiscite Administrator, a distinguished American war hero: Admiral Chester Nimitz. India rejected this appeal and, later on, objected to an American acting as the Plebiscite Administrator.
Dr. Fai said that the history of past sixty years testifies to the fact that the bilateral talks between India and Pakistan have been always fruitless. In fact any attempt to strike a deal between any two parties without the association of the third party, will fail to yield a credible settlement. So the time has come that talks need to be tripartite. The reason that talks must be tripartite is that the dispute primarily involves three parties- India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. But the primary and principal party is the people of Kashmir, because it is ultimately their future, the future of 14 million people of Kashmir that is at stake.
Dr. Fai concluded that resolution of Kashmir demands seriousness from all parties concerned, including the deeper engagement of the international community. Ultimately, the durable settlement of the dispute will bring peace and prosperity to the region of South Asia home to one fifth of total human race.