Global intervention on Kashmir’s self-determination sought

MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 05 (INP): President of Sawera Foundation Tanveer ul Islam  has urged world leaders and global organizations to fulfill their commitments to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, whose right to self-determination remained unfulfilled for over seven decades.

Tanveer ul Islam in a statement in Muzaffarabad said, “Seventy-six years after the UN pledged to uphold the Kashmiri people’s right to decide their future, that promise has been left to gather dust.”

Highlighting the aftermath of India’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019, he described the move as a catastrophic blow to the region’s political and cultural identity. 

“The abrogation of Article 370 marked a turning point,” he said, adding, “It stripped the occupied region of its autonomy and unleashed an era of intensified repression, which has been witnessing arbitrary arrests, custodial deaths, enforced disappearances, and the brutal blinding of innocent civilians with globally banned pellet guns.”

The Sawera Foundation president also highlighted the plight of the Kashmiris who were forced to abandon their homes and hearths in the occupied territory and take refuge in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan after 1989.

“The Kashmiris face systematic disenfranchisement. Not only those who are actively engaged in the freedom movement but their families as well, who are a permanent victim of threats, travel restrictions, and social ostracism.” 

Tanveer ul Islam also drew attention to the grave socio-economic challenges facing Kashmiri youth, who he said were bearing the brunt of discriminatory policies that severely curtailed educational and employment opportunities. 

Reiterating the gravity of the crisis, he called upon the United Nations and international organizations to honour their promises and take decisive action. 

Reaffirming his organisation’s unwavering commitment to the Kashmiri cause, he said the sacrifices of over 500,000 Kashmiris demand justice in the shape of fulfillment of the promise made to them in 1949.