On April 12, 2010 UN General Assembly President Dr. Ali Treki discussed the Middle East situation and the United Nations role in the Arab-Israeli conflict in talks with the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, on the third leg of a tour of the region. Earlier in September 2009 Libyan President Muammar al-Qadhafi supported the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir in his address at the sixty-fourth session of UN General Assembly in New York. Ever since Kashmiri leaders or the Government of Pakistan did not make any genuine effort to connect Libyan support with the duration of Presidency of UN General Assembly attained by Libya since its election at the sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly on 10 June 2009.
An immediate interaction with Dr. Treki after the express support of Libyan President at the UN General Assembly would have helped the Rights Movement of the people of Kashmir in an exceptional manner because he has represented Libya on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1986 to 1990 and most recently, in 2003. He has listened to various opinions on Kashmir during the sessions of United Nations Commission on Human Rights. More so Dr. Treki has served three times as his country’s Permanent Representative to the world body—from 1982 to 1984—when he also chaired the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee on Decolonization.
Kashmiri leadership is still struggling to position itself in regard to its manifesto and does not appear to have any clue whether it needs to hang on as equal people to the right of self determination as envisaged in UN Charter and press for UN mechanism on Kashmir as set out in UNCIP Resolutions or remain loyal in the sale of Musharraf formula or wait for a tripartite dialogue and hammer out something fresh without any historical/legal sanction or reference to the people of Kashmir. Of course anything that develops during a tripartite dialogue would be at variance to the universality of self determination and the resistance moment for which a generation has been sent to grave and the living continue to suffer a trauma never witnessed in the last 133 years since 1877.
One needs to ask a simple question - if the universal authority of 194 countries represented in UN resolutions on Kashmir could not persuade Indian Government or the Government of Pakistan to honour their respective obligations under UNCIP Resolutions on Kashmir, how is it possible that five or double the number of Kashmiri leaders could influence the two countries during any tripartite dialogue on Kashmir. Kashmiri leaders on the contrary don’t care to consider that every day that passes adds new difficulties in the cause and lives of the people. One such bolt from the blue has been a reference to Kashmir in the 3 members UN report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto made public on April 15, 2010.
It would have never crossed any mind that the report submitted by the three-member commission appointed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to enquire into the circumstances that led to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto at Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, released to the public on April 15, 2010 would make a damning finding that Pakistani military and ISI used Lashkar-e-Taiba and other such groups in the Kashmir insurgency after 1989. It has observed that the bulk of the anti-Indian activity was and still remains the work of such groups in Kashmir which have an involvement in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The silver lining remains that although the report admits the clandestine nature of these groups yet it confirms that any such connection in an attack on her is very difficult to detect or prove.
It is heartening to note that UN Commission has not found any blood on Kashmiri hands yet a serious doubt has been created around the indigenous claim of the Kashmiri resistance. Merits of Kashmir resistance have been called into question by the observation that "A common characteristic of these jihadi groups was their adherence to the Deobandi Sunni sect of Islam, their strong anti-Shia bias, and their use by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies in Afghanistan and Kashmir." The non-participation of non Muslims (other communities) and non-Valley regions in the Rights Movement has remained a serious weakness in convincing the world opinion around the popular merits of Kashmir case (present struggle). The differentiation between Deobandi Sunni sect of Islam and Shia highlighted in the UN report has added another pound to the existing weight of doubts and difficulties in the path of Kashmir movement.
Dr. Treki and Emir of Kuwait in their meeting have reaffirmed the need to strengthen the United Nations and the role it plays in resolving the Palestinian question and ending the human tragedy in the Gaza Strip. On the contrary Kashmiri leaders are deliberately encouraged to condemn the UN and dismiss its role in Kashmir. Kashmiri leaders, Government of Pakistan or any member of OIC have made no such effort since Libyan election as President of UN General Assembly in the best interests of the people of Kashmir. Our leaders look out for an unfortunate death or violation of human right by the administration to surface on the scene and prove their relevance in Kashmir politics. They have got their visit priorities wrong. May be because these are outsourced lock, stock and barrel.
The role of our leaders should have been to animate the principal manifesto in popular interest. The first important step is to understand the principle of arithmetic and start believing that every single person is important and extraordinary. The tragedy is that we have a society where too many people never get to fulfil that extraordinary potential. The job of a leader or the government is to help them to do it. It can be done only if we move beyond the monopoly of political arithmetic sustained as an aristocracy.
Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. Email dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com
An immediate interaction with Dr. Treki after the express support of Libyan President at the UN General Assembly would have helped the Rights Movement of the people of Kashmir in an exceptional manner because he has represented Libya on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1986 to 1990 and most recently, in 2003. He has listened to various opinions on Kashmir during the sessions of United Nations Commission on Human Rights. More so Dr. Treki has served three times as his country’s Permanent Representative to the world body—from 1982 to 1984—when he also chaired the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee on Decolonization.
Kashmiri leadership is still struggling to position itself in regard to its manifesto and does not appear to have any clue whether it needs to hang on as equal people to the right of self determination as envisaged in UN Charter and press for UN mechanism on Kashmir as set out in UNCIP Resolutions or remain loyal in the sale of Musharraf formula or wait for a tripartite dialogue and hammer out something fresh without any historical/legal sanction or reference to the people of Kashmir. Of course anything that develops during a tripartite dialogue would be at variance to the universality of self determination and the resistance moment for which a generation has been sent to grave and the living continue to suffer a trauma never witnessed in the last 133 years since 1877.
One needs to ask a simple question - if the universal authority of 194 countries represented in UN resolutions on Kashmir could not persuade Indian Government or the Government of Pakistan to honour their respective obligations under UNCIP Resolutions on Kashmir, how is it possible that five or double the number of Kashmiri leaders could influence the two countries during any tripartite dialogue on Kashmir. Kashmiri leaders on the contrary don’t care to consider that every day that passes adds new difficulties in the cause and lives of the people. One such bolt from the blue has been a reference to Kashmir in the 3 members UN report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto made public on April 15, 2010.
It would have never crossed any mind that the report submitted by the three-member commission appointed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to enquire into the circumstances that led to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto at Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, released to the public on April 15, 2010 would make a damning finding that Pakistani military and ISI used Lashkar-e-Taiba and other such groups in the Kashmir insurgency after 1989. It has observed that the bulk of the anti-Indian activity was and still remains the work of such groups in Kashmir which have an involvement in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The silver lining remains that although the report admits the clandestine nature of these groups yet it confirms that any such connection in an attack on her is very difficult to detect or prove.
It is heartening to note that UN Commission has not found any blood on Kashmiri hands yet a serious doubt has been created around the indigenous claim of the Kashmiri resistance. Merits of Kashmir resistance have been called into question by the observation that "A common characteristic of these jihadi groups was their adherence to the Deobandi Sunni sect of Islam, their strong anti-Shia bias, and their use by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies in Afghanistan and Kashmir." The non-participation of non Muslims (other communities) and non-Valley regions in the Rights Movement has remained a serious weakness in convincing the world opinion around the popular merits of Kashmir case (present struggle). The differentiation between Deobandi Sunni sect of Islam and Shia highlighted in the UN report has added another pound to the existing weight of doubts and difficulties in the path of Kashmir movement.
Dr. Treki and Emir of Kuwait in their meeting have reaffirmed the need to strengthen the United Nations and the role it plays in resolving the Palestinian question and ending the human tragedy in the Gaza Strip. On the contrary Kashmiri leaders are deliberately encouraged to condemn the UN and dismiss its role in Kashmir. Kashmiri leaders, Government of Pakistan or any member of OIC have made no such effort since Libyan election as President of UN General Assembly in the best interests of the people of Kashmir. Our leaders look out for an unfortunate death or violation of human right by the administration to surface on the scene and prove their relevance in Kashmir politics. They have got their visit priorities wrong. May be because these are outsourced lock, stock and barrel.
The role of our leaders should have been to animate the principal manifesto in popular interest. The first important step is to understand the principle of arithmetic and start believing that every single person is important and extraordinary. The tragedy is that we have a society where too many people never get to fulfil that extraordinary potential. The job of a leader or the government is to help them to do it. It can be done only if we move beyond the monopoly of political arithmetic sustained as an aristocracy.
Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. Email dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com
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