120 Whither Kashmir? (Part II) - Islamabad Policy Research Institute

24 IPRI Factfile
issue and Pakistan wants its early resolution according to the aspirations
of Kashmiri people, as it is imperative for lasting peace in the region.
News International (Rawalpindi), February 5, 2010.
KASHMIR SOLUTION
Since the past sixty-three years, the Kashmiris have been struggling for
their right of self-determination. Neither United Nations nor Great
Powers seem serious to resolve this chronic issue. They are reluctant to
implement the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir. The negligence
of Kashmiris not only exposes the selective morality of the international
community, but also haunts the peace and security of India and Pakistan.
The Kashmir is recognized by the United Nations as a disputed territory.
Importantly, Kashmiris were promised by the Indians to be given a
chance to decide about their future at the United Nations forum in 1948.
But now the latter is trying to bury the former’s right to decide about its
future in oblivion.
Since 1948, Pakistan has been endeavoring, politically and
diplomatically, to resolve the Kashmir dispute through the conduct of
plebiscite in the Kashmir. In connection to these efforts, the Government
of Pakistan announced public holiday across the country for Kashmir
Solidarity Day on February 5, 2010. Human chains were made at Kohala
and Mangla. People from all walks of life in Pakistan expressed their
solidarity with their Kashmiri brothers. Notably, since 1975, every year,
government and people of Pakistan; and Kashmiris living in Azad
Kashmir have been expressing their solidarity with the Kashmiris fighting
for their right of self-determination and against the Indian oppression in
the Indian held Kashmir. This demonstrates the determined stance of
both the Pakistanis and Kashmiris for the liberation of Kashmir from the
Indian occupation.
Kashmir is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Once visiting
Kashmir, the Mughal Emperor Jehangir exclaimed: “If there is paradise
anywhere on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” Ironically, the
stubborn and brutal policies of New Delhi have turned this paradise into
hell. The Indian state-terrorism has replaced the yesteryears peace and
tranquility of the scenic valley of Himalayas with the misery of physical
and psychic violence. India and Pakistan had fought three wars over
Kashmir: in 1947, 1965, and 1999. Moreover, the Kashmiris have been
sustaining world’s longest-running separatist insurgency since over two