The impending issue of Kashmir yet hangs midway without any results. A conference was organized on ‘Resolution of the Kashmiri Issue: Pakistan’s Options in the Realm of International and Global Politics’ on February 24, 2020. The conference comprised high-profile politicians and other dignitaries who highlighted the issues faced by Kashmir and prospective solutions to them. Ibrahim Hasan Murad. President UMT/ILM Trust, Lt General Retd Javed Hassan, Chief Advisor Institutionalization and Governance/Professor of Practice, and Dr Mumtaz Akhter, Acting Dean, School of Social Science and Humanities graced the conference as guests. The session was hosted by Dr Muhammad Shoaib Pervez, Chairperson Department Political Science.
It was an enticing and thought-provoking conference where dignitaries presented issues that Kashmir faced, the position of India, and the role Pakistanis can or should play in striving for the freedom of Kashmir.
Syed Abdullah Gilani, APHC-AJK Convener, presided over the topic “Political Strategy and India’s Plan of Shaping Politics in Kashmir”. He proposed the idea of introspection at a macro as well as minor level to see what had been done in the 70 years of Pakistan existence. He was of the view, when Modi came into power, the step he took of locking down Kashmir on August 5, 2019, was already in place. It was a part of the 2013 elections manifesto along with abolition of Article 370. He proposed his idea as to why India took the step it did, in order to give Kashmiris a sense of abandonment by Pakistanis, or to make Pakistan realize that what it aims to achieve is unattainable. He said that Prime Minister of Pakistan did indeed lay a strong foundation of the Kashmir issue in the UN but no follow-up was done hence no action has been taken as of yet.
Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan, former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, while talking about the political options available in the context of Kashmir stated that it was vital to understand the conspiracies of the Indian government to seek a resolution for the Kashmir problem. He said diplomacy was a viable key and urged the government as well as the civil society to initiate constructive Intra-Kashmir dialogue. He added that Kashmiris were an integral stakeholder of the conflict. Some other recommendations that he proposed, included initiating back-channel negotiations, formulating Kashmir study group, drafting policies based on the recommendations proposed by Musharaf and giving Hurriyat leaders the status of IPP’s.
