By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Nov 2
MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 1: Renowned Kashmiri human rights activist Dr Syed Nazir Gilani has asked Pakistan to stick to the right to self-determination instead of using the vague term of “aspirations” of the people of Kashmir.
“It would be wrong and unwise on the part of Pakistan to skip the urgent need to clarify between accession, self-determination and aspirations on the one hand and unfairly hope to manipulate ‘wishes and aspirations’ through an interchange of political culture on either side of the Line of Control on the other,” he said.
Dr Gilani who is secretary general of London-based Jammu Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR) was talking to Dawn during his visit to Azad Kashmir.
According to him, ‘aspirations and wishes of Kashmiri people’ was a vague term and ran the risk of diluting and confusing the basic issue.
Kashmir, he said, was not a dispute as ordinarily understood but it was the question of a title of the Kashmiri people to self-determination, embedded in 132-year-old rights movement, charter obligation of 194-member nations of the UN and envisaged in the UN resolutions on the region.
Disputes could fluctuate with the change of political climate but self-determination could not be changed, he said.
He feared that India and Pakistan might not act in fairness and equity if Kashmir was treated as a dispute “because at the time of settlement of disputes, sovereign interests of both nations will reign supreme.”
“The two sides may continue to dispute with each other but they have no right to sandwich us and our inherent right to self-determination for their self-serving disputes,” he said.
He said it would be unwise and unhelpful if India continued to avoid its contractual obligations and international commitments due towards the Kashmiri people.
“The Kashmiri people are equal to any other people under the principle of self-determination and as members of the UN, India and Pakistan have Charter obligations to discharge towards self-determination and equality among people,” he said.
He said death of a generation in Kashmir had caused a serious number deficit in the process of self-determination. “In fact, we have killed the right of self-determination for some time. It is not realisable in the near future and we need to defend this principle at least,” he said.
The JKCHR secretary general pointed out that the position taken by Libya at the 64th session of UN General Assembly and by China to endorse visa to the citizens of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was in accordance with the Charter obligation of the two countries as envisaged in the UNCIP resolutions on Kashmir.
Dr Gilani who was elected at the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993 to represent the ‘Unrepresented peoples and nations of the world’ termed the Chinese interest in Kashmir as a ‘significant development.’
China which shared a border with Kashmir had played a lead role during the discussion of Kashmir at the UN and at the 241st meeting of the UN Security Council held on February 5, 1948, making a serious case for ‘pacification,’ he said, recalling that China had also come up with Articles of Settlement on 18 March, 1948 at the 269th meeting of the Security Council.
He said Pakistan should adopt a stand like that of China and also press the OIC nations to follow the suit. “The OIC should also accept Kashmiris as a separate nation,” he said. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/kashmiris-right-to-selfdetermination-should-be-supreme-119
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