Declaration on Kashmir issue urges innovative thinking, proactive approach to attract global attention and engagement

Islamabad, 29 November 2019: (DMN) -  Declaration on Kashmir issue urges innovative thinking, proactive approach to attract global attention and engagement.The peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue is going to be a long struggle requiring a lot of patience, proactive approach, innovative thinking and devising of well-coordinated, carefully planned, multidimensional strategies, aimed at attracting global attention while maintaining effective engagement of as many people, international organizations and states as possible.

This was the crux of a declaration on Kashmir issue that was signed as the conclusion of an international seminar titled ‘The Crisis in Kashmir amidst Regional and Global Dynamics’. The event was organized in Muzaffarabad, AJ&K by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, in collaboration with Policy Research Forum (PRF), AJK and Maritime Studies Forum (MSF).

Declaration on Kashmir issue urges innovative thinking, proactive approach to attract global attention and engagement

The declaration was signed by Prime Minister of AJ&K Raja Farooq Haider. The other signatories of the document comprised Khalid Rahman, Executive President IPS, Dr Syed Muhammad Anwer, law expert and president MSF, Mansoor Qadir Dar, Acting Chairman PRFAJK, Dr Roger van Zwanenbarg, British historian and political economy scholar, Dr Yashpal Amarchand Tandon, author and political activist from the UK, Dr Akis Kalaitzidis, American scholar and author, Dr Halil Toker, Turkish scholar, Syed Iftikhar Gilani, senior journalist from IoK, Dr Fazl ul Hadi Wazeen, academic and politician from Kabul, and Farzana Yaqoob, political activist, among others.

The points covered in the declaration included:

1.       Neither, status Quo nor Silence are any option, though patience will have to be applied as it is going to be a long journey, a well-coordinated strategy and work plan will have to be ensured.

2.       Alongside Routine efforts innovative and creative ways and strategies will have to be designed to create awareness and engage as many people, institutions, regional and global organizations and countries as possible.

3.       Awareness and engagement not only outside but within, on nature of conflict and the immediate, short term and ultimate goals; material in multiple languages, Kashmir specific diplomacy, Hindutva as a fascist philosophy and way of life, that needs to be exposed.

4.       The indigenous character of the movement needs to be highlighted, at the same time individual stories and case studies should be stressed in awareness campaigns, legal ways and means to fight such cases under the international legal regimes need to be taken up.

5.       Preserving the consensus environment within; one needs to realize the difference in maintaining consensus on the goal as against the strategies at a particular point of time, blame game is suicidal; Focus should remain on Right of Self Determination which is the most important HR and which has a strong legal foundation. 

6.       Prepare for a long and sustainable movement; IOK is the most important front; they need messages positive enough to raise or at least maintain their spirits and resolve; Allow movement of Kashmiris from IoK to visit AJK simply by presenting the state subject card, blame game only discourages and negatively impacts the morale and the spirits.

7.       Making AJK a model of good governance.

8.       Being reactive is inevitable in certain cases but important is to be a proactive and innovative in one’s approach.

9.       One single approach will not work. Multidimensional strategies are needed – Combination of Political, legal, strategic, economic, and media strategies to name a few.

10.   It has to be stressed that war is also a tool in the international relations; at the same time hybrid nature of war in contemporary world needs to be understood and kept in view in policies and strategies. A well designed Movement towards achieving self-reliance is inevitable to face the challenges of hybrid war and external pressures.

11.   The indigenous character of the movement needs to be highlighted, institutionalize the diaspora, Governments are important but at the end of the day it is the public opinion that counts.

12.   There are a lot of fronts; one would need to address different stakeholders and their concerns, which would require keeping in view the attentiveness of various stakeholders, at the same time one has to set priorities keeping in view the environment and resources available.

13.   Research and monitoring to understand Indian designs and strategies and develop ideas for countering them with proper mechanisms in place; India will continue try to change the goal post as it has been doing since last seventy years.

14.   Last but not the least, Problems the world is facing today, and Kashmir is not just one but one of the key problems Rooted in poor, or in fact no Global Governance which is fundamentally founded on the Capitalist paradigm of life.

15.   It has to be emphasized within and without that as a global citizen all of us have two options:

a.       To continue within the prevailing system of global governance based on the so called paradigm National Interest and excel.

b.       To try developing an alternate vision and strive for a peaceful, fairer, just, equitable global system.=DMN

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