ISLAMABAD  -  Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, has said that Kashmiris demand the implementation of the UN resolution of August 13, 1948 that acknowledged their right to self-determination. According to Kashmir media service, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai in a statement issued in Washington said that Kash­miris in Jammu and Kashmir, the US and world­wide will observe the 75th anniversary of the unimplemented UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolution of August 13, 1948.

He said, that resolution states that ‘the Govern­ment of India and the Government of Pakistan re­affirm their wish that the future status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in ac­cordance with the will of the people.’ He said, there was much in the resolution that was controversial between India and Pakistan but the proposal of a plebiscite was not. “That is clear from the state­ment made on January 28, 1948 by Ambassador Fernand van Langenhove of Belgium as the Presi­dent of the Security Council. He said that ‘the doc­uments at our disposal show agreement between the parties on the following points: the plebiscite must be conducted under conditions which will ensure complete impartiality; and the plebiscite will therefore be held under the aegis of the United Nations,” he added. Dr Fai reminded that the US, the UK, and France have traditionally been com­mitted supporters of the plebiscite agreement as the only way to resolve the Kashmir dispute. They sponsored all of the Security Council resolutions which called for a plebiscite. Their commitment was indicated by a personal appeal made by Amer­ica’s President Harry Truman and Britain’s Prime Minister Clement Atlee that differences over de­militarization be submitted to arbitration by the Plebiscite Administrator, a distinguished Ameri­can war hero: Admiral Chester Nimitz. In addition, Senator Frank Graham of America visited the Sub­continent as the UN representative to negotiate the demilitarization of Kashmir prior to the plebi­scite. India objected to American acting as a Plebi­scite Administrator. Dr Fai said, if this day could be observed in peace, it could have been a fitting tribute to the members of the UNCIP who had ad­opted the resolution unanimously. But the studied unconcern by the United Nations has given a sense of total impunity to India. It has also created the impression that the United Nations is invidiously selective about the application of the principles of human rights and democracy. He pointed out that frustration at India’s intransigence and the world’s hesitation to fulfill its commitment drove the peo­ple of Kashmir to be more assertive in their strug­gle. He added that in the past 33 years of struggle, since 1990 alone, Kashmiris have suffered the loss of more than 100,000 civilians - men, women and children, and have borne the perpetration of countless atrocities by more than 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces concentrated in Kashmir as an army of occupation. Dr Fai pointed out that India’s occupation of Kashmir has been left undisturbed by the international community, even though its validity has never been accepted. At no stage, however, have the people of Kashmir shown themselves to be reconciled to it. Kash­mir’s record of opposition to its annexation by the Indian Union can by no standard be reckoned as less genuinely demonstrated than that of the coun­tries of Eastern Europe under the dominance of the Soviet Union. But while the popular revolt in the countries of Eastern Europe was observed and re­ported by the international media, that in Kashmir has remained largely hidden from the world’s view. That is the reason that the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that ‘news media in Kashmir is at the brink of extinction.’ Today, Dr Fai said, the consensus is that Kashmir conflict remains the underlying cause of the nuclear confrontation between the two neigh­boring countries.