International Kashmir Conference concludes in Washington

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ISLAMABAD, Jul 25 (APP): The 10th International Peace Conference on Kashmir, concluded on Friday in Washington D.C., has demanded that the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, as it stood on 14 August 1947, be recognized and instituted. According to Kashmir Media Service, the Conference was held under the auspices of the Kashmiri American Council/Kashmir Center, and the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers.

The declaration adopted as the Washington Declaration in the concluding session urged upon the United States Congress to persuade the US Administration to support the appointment of a special United Nations envoy to Kashmir. It pointed out that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were the principal stakeholder.

The Declaration underscored the need to bring about a democratic, peaceable resolution of Kashmir dispute in conformity with the United Nations Charter.

It demanded an end to state of impunity, and restoration of individual, civil, political, and legal rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

It stressed that the cessation of militarization and human rights violations and the implementation of justice should take place expeditiously.

The Washington Declaration deplored that the non-violent, civil disobedience, including the prolific agitation of 2008 and 2009, enacted by the people of Kashmir had been repeatedly met with brutal force and collective punishment by the Indian state.

The militarization, it added, has induced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, unlawful detentions, torture, phenomenon of half-widows, orphans, displacement, migrations, and mass graves.

The Washington Declaration appreciated the commitment to resume composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, adding that the egregious violations of humanitarian norms had induced a culture of crisis.

It emphasized that the violation of promises, laws, and conventions in international humanitarian law, and the enforcement of draconian laws and policies had empowered the security apparatus of the Government of India to act with impunity.

The Washington Declaration identified its premise as sixty-two years of irresolution had witnessed conditions of militarization and inhumanity endured by the people of Indian-administered Kashmir, and the violation of their inalienable right of self-determination.

The drafting committee of the Declaration comprised Ved Bhasin, Prof. Angana Chatterji, Gautam Navlakha, Zahid G.  Mohammad, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Dr. Najib Naqi, Jatender Bakshi, Dr. Ghulam N. Mir and Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai.

Dr. Fai, the Executive Director of Kashmir Centre talking to media men expressed satisfaction over the adoption of the Washington Declaration.