Srinagar: APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq through a recorded video delivered the keynote address on the topic titled “Revisiting The Kashmir Issue” as part of the two day Conference held by the Pakistan Harvard Forum at the Harvard University Boston on 16th April 2017.
Mirwaizs address was the inaugral adress at the forum, attended by a distinguished audience and large number of students. As Mirwaiz’s passport stands impounded he could not attend the conference in person.
Addressing the gathering Mirwaiz said that India has declared a war on Kashmir. The kind of repression unleashed on civilians is unprecedented. Referring to the dispute in its historical and current context Mirwaiz said that the Indian state refuses to acknowledge the people’s political struggle for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per their aspirations as a consequence of which they are making huge sacrifices and suffering tremendously.
Referring to recently held elections Mirwaiz said that people were again were made to go through the drill and drama of so called elections to the Indian parliament. On the day of polling 8 youth were shot dead and hundreds injured by the troops, as the youth came out on the streets to resist .With less than 7% voting the rejection of Indian occupation and political institutions is clear.Although the United Nations Security Council repeatedly made it clear in 1951 and 1959 that elections for local governance in Kashmir had no bearing on the disputed nature of Kashmir which has to be resolved through a referendum, GOI exploited these so called ‘elections’ internationally as an expression of people’s opinion in its favour, which has been completely deflated.
The Indian state is intransigent and insists Kashmir is its integral part, refusing to listen to Kashmiris.It has been an endless struggle for the past 70 years and every time we confront a dead end. The Govt of India attempts to delegitimize our long term struggle – which began even before India’s struggle for freedom – by equating it with terrorism, through an irresponsible and false discourse. 9/11 provided the Indian state an excuse to put the Kashmir struggle under the rubric of terror. In the post 9/11 Islamophobia environment it fits well with the broader narrative. Kashmir happens to be a Muslim majority territory and India is using it as a pretext to demonize a people as terrorists and miscreants.
He said that Kashmir is akin to a tinder box at present, with extreme volatility in the political situation and without timely intervention by the world community the consequences are bound to be ghastly and catastrophic.Mirwaiz said that the most simple and democratic way to resolve the conflict is through the promised referendum. He said engagement and dialogue among the parties to the dispute, India Pakistan and people of J&K, could provide the alternative way of resolution provided there is sincerity to find a solution.
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