Islamabad
On the occasion of International Peace Day, Chairman, Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), Altaf Hussain Wani Monday reminded the United Nations and the influential world governments of their moral and legal obligations vis-a-vis the settlement of Kashmir dispute to ensure permanent peace in the troubled region.
In a statement issued here, the KIIR chief while underlining the UN’s critical role in maintaining International Peace and Security said that it was prime responsibility of the highest forum to prevent conflicts, safeguard peoples’ fundamental rights and create a violence free atmosphere, where people regardless of their race, color and creed could live peacefully without any fear.
Over the decades, Wani said, the UN had played a pivotal role in ending numerous conflicts but it has miserably failed to implement its own resolutions on Kashmir that call for a holding a referendum in the region.
‘Had the UN implemented its proposed roadmap on Kashmir there would have been no bloodshed or violence in the territory’, he said adding that it was this lingering dispute that on one hand continues to threaten the Kashmiris’ lives and their livelihood while on the other it poses a serious threat to peace and security in South Asia.
Referring to India’s state terrorism in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the UN’s motto of ‘Long live absolute world peace’ could be materialized in real sense only if this deadly conflict, which had consumed tens of thousands of lives, was resolved as per the universally accepted principle of right to self-determination.
Highlighting the humanitarian aspect of the lingering dispute Wani said, ‘Since several decades people of Kashmir have been the worst victims of this long-drawn conflict; they are being killed, maimed, murdered, harassed and humiliated by the Indian troops, day in and day out’.—KMS
