Ankara, Turkiye (TW News) __ “The distinctive strength of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir is not their authorship or legal import in themselves but the fact that they embody an agreement between India and Pakistan which was negotiated in detail by the United Nations and which was based on the position of principle -– self-determination of the people involved – that both parties had by themselves freely articulated before the Security Council. In fact, they were adopted only when their text was accepted by both sides. It is one thing to throw away a United Nations resolution; it is altogether another not only to disregard the only agreement reached by the parties and witnessed by the world organization but to act against it,” this was stated by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, ‘World Forum for Peace & Justice’ at ‘The Institute for Social, Economic, and Political Research’ (SESA Institute)’ in Ankara, Turkiye which was presided over by its energetic and scholarly Director Prof. Dr. Veysel Ayhan who is also a faculty member in the Department of International Relations at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University. The event was attended by diplomats, academics, scholars, journalists and Turkish students who were concerned with the latest situation in South Asia.

SESA is a think tank established in Ankara in 2014. The SESA Institute conducts academic and social studies in the fields of economics, politics, international relations, foreign policy, energy, migration, law and justice, society and media, education, and social policies at national and international levels. The SESA Institute aims to contribute to the field of academic knowledge production by examining a wide range of developments in depth. With a competent synthesis that transcends classical disciplinary distinctions. It also aims to analyze current developments and phenomena within their historical, cultural, and social contexts.

Dr. Fai added that we feel impelled to educate the corridors of power including think-tanks like SESA everywhere, it is because of the manifest need to articulate the recognition that the situation in Kashmir is not frozen and if at times it seems so, it will not stay frozen. The call needs to be renewed from every level, even one as modest as ours, for exploring all humane and reasonable avenues to deliver the men, women and children of Kashmir from a suffering as acute and unbearable as it is wholly unmerited and entirely politically caused.

“The desire for self-determination is the one very big “element” India should be concerned about yet continues to pretend to the world that it does not exist. However long India refuses to acknowledge it, the decades-old movement in Kashmir will not simply die out. Even the 47-pages report issued by the former President of Chille, Michelle Bachelet Jeria who was also UN High Commissioner on Human Rights recommended to the Government of India to, “Fully respect the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir as protected under international law,” Fai added.

Fai explained that the sanctity of the Kashmir issue can be understood by the fact that both former President Obama (Democrat) and President Trump (Republican) wished to play a role in resolving the Kashmir conflict. President Obama did not articulate his understanding into action but at least in principle he is on record to have said on November 9, 2010, in New Delhi that the resolution of Kashmir was in the interest of United States. President Donald Trump asserted even on his first campaign trail in October 2016 that he would be willing to mediate in addressing the “very, very hot tinderbox” of Kashmir between India and Pakistan. “If it was necessary I would do that. If we could get India and Pakistan getting along, I would be honored to do that. That would be a tremendous achievement … I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator,” President Trump said.

Then again, Dr. Fai substantiated when Pakistan shot down seven Indian aircraft, President Trump engaged both the Prime Minister of India and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, emphasizing that a ceasefire was the most constructive path forward and that further escalation would carry significant consequences. Both sides agreed to de-escalate. President Trump observed that the two countries were approaching a dangerous brink, with the unresolved Kashmir issue remaining a core point of tension. He again expressed his willingness to facilitate dialogue and support efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Dr. Mubeen Shah, one of the prominent leading Kashmiri diaspora leaders, Chairman, Kashmir Diaspora Coalition and President, Kashmir House Istanbul said that Turkiye’s consistent moral position as articulated by President Erdogan at the United Nations and reflected in the 2025 OIC Summit, should now take institutional form.

Dr. Shah urged Turkiye to lead implementation of the OIC Contact Group 2022 Joint Communique, including: Advocacy for a UN-supervised plebiscite; Sending OIC delegations to both sides of the Ceasefire Line; Formation of an independent Panel of eminent persons; and Legal scrutiny under International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Dr. Mubeen Shah urged the Government of Turkiye to lead efforts at the OIC and UN for a human rights inquiry and sanctions mechanism. He also pleaded with the Erdogan administration to support a UN Human Rights Council resolution with periodic assessments.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai is also the Secretary General
World Kashmir Awareness Forum
WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435. Or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com
www.kashmirawareness.org