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A Plebiscite Under UN Supervision Is The Only Solution To The Kashmir Conflict: Dr. Imtiaz Khan
Faizan Hashmi Published January 05, 2025 | 09:10 PM
MIRPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2025) Washington-based veteran Kashmiri American scholar Professor Dr. Imtiaz Khan said on Sunday that a plebiscite under United Nations (UN) supervision is the only solution to the Kashmir conflict.
The UN called for a plebiscite (a vote by the people) to determine the future of Jammu and Kashmir. The plebiscite was to be conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. The resolution was never implemented, and events and their aftermath have had a lasting impact on the political and diplomatic discourse surrounding the Kashmir dispute,the Kashmiri American said in Washington on the eve of Right to Self-Determination Day, observed on Sunday, says a message reaching and released to the media here on Sunday.Â
He said "On January 5, 1949, the United Nations passed a resolution regarding the Kashmir conflict, which became a significant milestone in the ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over the region of Jammu and Kashmir".
Dr. Imtiaz Khan said that the region surrounded by three nuclear powers remains the most militarized zone in the world. "The potential of nuclear conflagration that could engulf almost half of the world population remains reasonably high,the Kashmiri American said.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President, World Kashmir Awareness Forum and Chairman, Kashmiri Diaspora Coalition, said that peace in Jammu and Kashmir and, along with it, in all of South Asia will remain elusive and a distant dream as long as India refuses to accept its culpability in its mischievous role in defying the implementation of multiple UNSC-mandated resolutions for plebiscite.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice, said that part III of the resolution of 13 August 1948, adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), stipulates: "The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people".
And to that end, upon acceptance of the truce agreement, both governments agree to enter into consultations with the Commission to determine fair and equitable conditions whereby such free expression will be assured.
And the January 5, 1949, resolution adopted by the UNCIP clearly mandated that all authorities within the State of Jammu and Kashmir collaborate with the Plebiscite Administrator to guarantee the basic conditions for free and informed voting by the people of Kashmir, including protection of fundamental political rights of expression and association.
Dr. Fai added that the denial of self-determination has brought death, destruction, and devastation to the people of Kashmir. Today, Kashmir is at the brink of genocide (Genocide Watch), and Kashmir has become the hell for the people of Kashmir, as reported by the New York Times.
Sardar Zarif Khan, advisor to the president of Azad Kashmir, said that the Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory that is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. Until now, this assurance has not been honored.
Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary, Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWA), said that the people of Kashmir trust that Mr. Antonio Gutters, the Secretary General of the United Nations, will bring its influence to bear on both India and Pakistan to initiate a peace process with which the United Nations, as well as the people of Jammu and Kashmir, will be associated so as to ensure that the settlement arrived at will be based on the principle of justice.
Sardar Zubair Khan, leader of KAWA, appealed to Antonio Gutters, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to appoint a special envoy on Kashmir who could assess the situation in Jammu & Kashmir as well as in Azad Kashmir and report back to the Security Council about its findings, the message added.
