Srinagar, July 13: Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Tuesday asked the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to compel India and Pakistan to initiate substantive dialogue on Kashmir for the permanent, durable and honorable settlement of the longstanding dispute.
Mirwaiz, who was scheduled to lead a march marking the Martyrs Day today from Mazar-e-Shuhada to UN Office here to submit a memorandum over the recent killings, was put under house arrest.
“It is high time when UN should adopt a proactive course of diplomatic maneuver to compel India and Pakistan, while taking genuine Kashmiri leadership on board, to initiate substantive discourse on Kashmir for the permanent, durable and honorable settlement of the festering Kashmir issue,” he states in the memorandum mailed to Ban Ki Moon.
The memorandum was simultaneously submitted to the United Nations Military Observer Group offices in Pakistan administered Kashmir and Pakistan by representatives of Hurriyat (M). Terming Jammu and Kashmir as a nuclear flash point, Mirwaiz states that no peace can be guaranteed in South Asia unless Kashmir dispute was amicably settled by India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
“In a situation where global leaders are engaged in efforts to ensure peaceful settlement of the crisis in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, we the beleaguered Kashmiris make a fervent appeal to the global pacifists to redouble their efforts for the early peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue,” he said.
He said in the meantime, the UN and global leaders should urge upon the Government of India to revoke AFSPA which gives Indian troops immunity from civil and legal action and promotes further human rights violations, withdraw all armed forces from populated areas and remove the all-imposing security apparatus from the state, release all political prisoners and young boys languishing in various jails in India.
At the same time, he regrets that the UN and other forums could not facilitate the implementations of its resolutions on Kashmir. He states that the United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan in its August 13, 1948 and Jan 5, 1949 resolutions vociferously recommended plebiscite to determine the political future of Kashmir.
He states that India and Pakistan instead of creating an atmosphere of congeniality for free and fair referendum in Kashmir, opted to adopt the course of mutual confrontation and belligerency in the fatal wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971.
“In the process Kashmiris remained steadfast in the peaceful campaign against the obduracy and intransigence of India, which found it convenient to renege on its commitment and pledge regarding a referendum in Kashmir. India could not suppress and neutralize the resistance movement of Kashmir despite all her repressive modes of operation here. Thousands of Kashmiri martyrs lying buried in 500 cemeteries of Kashmir are inspiring Kashmiris to continue struggling for a peaceful and honorable settlement of Kashmir issue,” the memorandum reads.
On the 80th anniversary of July 13, 1931 martyrs, Mirwaiz states that Kashmiris did succeed in eliminating the dictatorial rule of the haughty Maharaja Hari Singh. “However our exhilaration proved short-lived due to armed intervention of India in 1947. Today while we are paying homage to the Martyrs of Kashmir we hope that the UN will fulfill its responsibility and address the issue of Kashmir in accordance to the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said.
He states that during the past six decades Kashmiris faced untold and ineffable sufferings and hardships. “Massacre of the young freedom votaries, thousands in number; defilement and desecration of chastity of women; sacrilege of the holy places of worship; custodial killing; torture in interrogation centres; loot and plunder; arson and devastation of hamlets – this is all the hapless Kashmiris had to face.”
However Mirwaiz maintains that “the humiliated and mortified Kashmiris cannot surrender to Indian onslaught come what may. During the past one month more than 20 innocent Kashmiris were shot dead by the Indian security forces for no fault of their except that they were stressing and emphasizing their right to self determination.”
He states that the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the conglomerate of political resistance organizations, has been struggling in a peaceful democratic way to force the recalcitrant Indian leaders to see reason in Kashmir case.
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz condemned the imposition of curfew to foil the conglomerate’s program today. “Such tactics won’t deter our resolve to carry forward the ongoing freedom struggle to its logical conclusion. We will continue to protests peacefully unless the troops are not withdrawn from civilian areas,” he maintained.

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