ISLAMABAD: The Measac Research Centre (MRC) organized an international seminar “Assessment of the Kashmir dispute and a way forward” in Islamabad.
Speaking to the seminar through a video link, Syed Ali Geelani said that decades have passed since the Kashmir’s illegal occupation by India but the dispute remains unresolved. No light is seen at the end of the tunnel due to Indian intransigence, the UN’s indolence and the world’s apathy.
“There is an urgent need to chalk a well-defined Kashmir policy with clear objectives. The diplomatic front has to be pragmatically activated to expose the ugly face of India”, he said.
Kashmir Committee Chairman Molana Fazlur Rehman expressed his deep concerns over the Indian carnages of innocent civilians. He observed that hapless Muslim Kashmiris, confined in a biggest open prison of the world, continued to groan and shriek under the boots of 750,000 Indian security forces that have been given a license to kill without accountability.
Former British MP George Galloway stressed that the reign of terror had been smoke-screened by India behind a veil of falsehood dubbing Kashmir as an integral part of India.
Senator Sirjaul Haq was of the view that India is resorting to low-intensity conflicts along the lines of water control, terrorism, and proxy wars to exert pressure on Pakistan and force it to abandon its support for the Kashmir cause.
Ahmed Bilal Sufi said that the UN and the international community have shut their eyes to the wanton barbarities of the Indian forces and largely buy the Indian story that UN resolutions have become obsolete and that elections are a substitute to a plebiscite.
“Encouraged by the US’s support and disinterest of the world, India has adopted a highly belligerent posture against Pakistan and continues with its human rights abuses unobtrusively”, he said.
Brig (R) Asif Haroon Raja explained that no movement regarding the matter can succeed unless supported by an external power.
The MRC has taken an initiative to provide assessment and recommendations for viable solution of the dispute. To ensure academic objectivity, worthy speakers shed light on different dimensions of the Kashmir issue and suggested a way out to untie the Gordian knot. Academia, students, journalists and diplomats from Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Sudan, China, Syria and several other countries were also present on the occasion.
