Syed Fakhar Imam, Chairman Kashmir Committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the APHC and Azad Kashmir, during a meeting, welcomed the offer of mediation on Kashmir by President Donald Trump and underlined that this offer had substantiated Pakistan’s long-standing stance that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is international in character and can be resolved through diplomacy and peaceful means
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News - 26th Jul, 2019) Syed Fakhar Imam, Chairman Kashmir Committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the APHC and Azad Kashmir, during a meeting, welcomed the offer of mediation on Kashmir by President Donald Trump and underlined that this offer had substantiated Pakistan’s long-standing stance that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is international in character and can be resolved through diplomacy and peaceful means.
The meeting was hosted by Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, to brainstorm on the political and diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute following President Trump’s announcement in Washington D.C. The event was also organized to recognize efforts of Lord Qurban Hussain of the British House of Lords for his services for the cause of Kashmir and his efforts for the protection of the human rights of the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir.
While some participants counselled caution, others were of the view that this offer should be welcomed and appreciated. The Pakistani and Kashmiri leadership should try to use this new political space on Kashmir created by this development and try to expand it. They said that hawks and hardliners in the Indian government and parliament, as well as Hindu-extremist organizations, should not be allowed to scuttle a diplomatic process for the resolution of the Kashmir issue through third-party mediation.
They were of the view that India should be persuaded to come forward to participate in such a process and to create a salutary environment in IOK by ending human rights violations there. The participants decided to work on a broader outreach agenda for projecting the cause of Kashmir on the international platform and to reinforce diplomatic processes for this purpose. Kashmiris, they said, had suffered for a very long time and it was time to end their sufferings and create conditions conducive for peace and security by once again putting UN Security Council resolutions related to Kashmir on the table for a democratic solution reflecting the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
They also said that the empirical evidence substantiates that bilateral talks have yielded no results. A bilateral approach, as advocated by India, practically excludes Kashmiris and the United Nations from the diplomatic process, thus undercutting the expression of the aspirations of the Kashmiris, who are the key party to the dispute.
