Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
Chairman
World Forum for Peace & Justice

United Nations Headquarters, New York.May 11. 2026 – As diplomats, disarmament experts, and political leaders gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the Eleventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the world once again confronts a sobering truth: humanity continues to live under the shadow of nuclear annihilation.

The conference, which runs until May 22, 2026, was convened at a time of mounting geopolitical instability, collapsing trust among nations, accelerating military expenditures, and renewed reliance on nuclear deterrence doctrines. Delegates warned repeatedly that the global security architecture painstakingly built over decades is beginning to fracture.

Ambassador Do Hung of Viet of Viet Nam, President of the Review Conference, captured the gravity of the moment with unusual candor when he declared that this gathering was “not just another review conference” and that its outcome would have implications “way beyond these halls.” He warned of “rising global tensions, disrupted dialogue and eroding trust,” while cautioning that the specter of a new arms race was “looming over us.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres went even further. He reminded the world that global military spending had reached an astonishing $2.7 trillion last year — thirteen times higher than global development assistance. More alarming still was his warning that, for the first time in decades, the number of nuclear warheads is once again increasing. “Nuclear testing is back on the table,” he said, before asking the haunting question: “Have we forgotten that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought?”

Those words should resonate far beyond the conference chambers of the United Nations because there exists one region where the danger of nuclear confrontation is neither theoretical nor remote. That region is Kashmir.

For decades, the international community has treated Kashmir largely as a bilateral dispute between India and Pakistan, to be “managed” rather than resolved. But the reality is far more dangerous. Kashmir remains the most volatile nuclear flashpoint in the world — a territory contested by two nuclear powers and strategically linked to a third, China.

The world witnessed this danger dramatically during the India-Pakistan confrontation of April–May 2025, when both nations moved perilously close to direct military escalation following the Pahalgam incident in Kashmir. International diplomacy in general and personal involvement of President Donald J. Trump in Particular eventually helped pull the region back from the brink, but the crisis demonstrated how quickly events in Kashmir can escalate into a confrontation with potentially catastrophic global consequences.

It is therefore impossible to speak honestly about nuclear non-proliferation while ignoring the unresolved political conflict that continues to fuel instability in South Asia.

The tragedy is that the roots of the conflict are neither obscure nor legally ambiguous. The people of Kashmir were promised the right to determine their political future through a plebiscite under international auspices. That commitment was not made privately or informally. It was acknowledged before the world by India’s own Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in November 1947 and reaffirmed through multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. Yet nearly eight decades later, that promise remains unfulfilled.

Instead of pursuing a democratic settlement, the region has witnessed militarization on a staggering scale. Hundreds of thousands of troops remain deployed across Kashmir. Human rights organizations have repeatedly documented allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, restrictions on freedom of expression, and the suppression of dissent under laws such as the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Families continue to search for loved ones who disappeared years ago, while thousands of political activists, including Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam Bhat, journalists, and civil society voices remain trapped between fear and uncertainty. This reality cannot simply be dismissed as an “internal matter” when its consequences threaten regional and international peace.

Indeed, many global leaders have long recognized the dangerous implications of the Kashmir dispute. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton famously described Kashmir as “the most dangerous place on earth.” Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark referred to it as a “nuclear flashpoint.” President Barack Obama acknowledged in New Delhi in 2010 that resolving Kashmir was in the interest not only of India and Pakistan, but also of regional and global stability.

The warnings delivered during the current NPT Review Conference reinforce precisely this concern. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rejected the notion that nuclear weapons provide genuine security and described the NPT as one of the most important instruments in international law. Ambassador Boris Ruge, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, stressed that arms control and disarmament remain essential pillars of strategic stability and international peace. But strategic stability cannot endure indefinitely when unresolved political grievances continue to simmer beneath the surface.

The central failure of international diplomacy has been its tendency to address symptoms while avoiding causes. Ceasefires are negotiated. Escalations are temporarily contained. Crisis management mechanisms are activated. Yet the underlying dispute remains unresolved, ensuring that the next crisis is only a matter of time.

Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that “the best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.” In South Asia, the cause of recurring nuclear tension is not difficult to identify. Kashmir remains the core dispute between India and Pakistan, and until its political future is addressed in accordance with international commitments and the aspirations of its people, lasting peace will remain elusive.

The NPT Review Conference offers the world an opportunity not merely to discuss warheads, doctrines, and strategic balances, but to confront the political realities that make nuclear confrontation possible in the first place. Disarmament cannot exist in isolation from justice. Peace cannot be sustained through military domination alone. And nuclear stability cannot rest permanently upon unresolved political conflicts and denied democratic rights.

The clock, as many delegates warned in New York, is ticking. The international community must decide whether it will continue managing crises after they erupt or finally summon the moral and political courage to prevent them before they begin.

Kashmir is no longer merely a regional dispute buried in diplomatic archives. It has become a defining test of whether the international community truly intends to prevent the catastrophic future it repeatedly claims to fear. The warnings voiced at the United Nations during the NPT Review Conference cannot remain abstract declarations while one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear flashpoints continues to simmer unresolved. If global leaders genuinely seek to reduce the risk of nuclear confrontation, they must confront the political realities that sustain instability in South Asia.

President Donald J. Trump has himself acknowledged that Kashmir lies at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan and has repeatedly expressed willingness to help facilitate a peaceful resolution. His recent statements in May 2025 offering to work with both India and Pakistan toward a “solution” to the long-disputed territory have once again brought international attention to an issue too often ignored until crisis erupts. This moment should not be allowed to pass as another temporary diplomatic gesture.

The time has come for serious engagement that brings India, Pakistan, and the authentic leadership of the Kashmiri people to the negotiating table to seek a just, peaceful, and lasting settlement in accordance with international legitimacy and the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. Only then can the world honestly claim that it is committed not merely to managing nuclear tensions, but to removing their root cause once and for all.

Dr. Fai is also the Secretary General
World Kashmir Awareness forum
He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435 or gnfai2003@yahoo.com
www.kashmirawareness.org