Peace in South Asia rests on exercise by Kashmiris of their UN-pledged right to self-determination: Dr. Fai

NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2026) A prominent Kashmiri leader has voiced "deep concern" over the worsening situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir, saying peace in South Asia will remain elusive without allowing the Kashmiri people their United Nations-promised right of self-determination.

"These grievances—frequently detailed by human rights organizations—center on restrictions of civil liberties, arbitrary detentions, and concerns over demographic changes," Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice, an advocacy group, said in an address to the 51th Annual Convention of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in Baltimore, a city in the US state of Maryland.

Other speakers included Laila El Haddad, author and well-known public speaker and Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, Chairmanm of the US Council of Muslim organizations (USCMO) who addressed the current situation in Palestine, as well as Habibullah Ziar, a prominent community leader and well-known expert discussed developments in Afghanistan.

More than 25,000 people attended the convention who came from across the United States, with delegations from many other countries.

In his address titled “Kashmir: Occupation, Erasure and a People Still Waiting,” Dr. Fai highlighted what he described as the continued denial of the Kashmiri people’s internationally recognized right to self-determination. The Primary focus of the session was the "Muslims Around the World Series."

He said that the Kashmir dispute is not merely a territorial disagreement between India and Pakistan, the issue fundamentally impacts the political future, dignity, and human rights of more than 23 million Kashmiri people, stressing that the unresolved conflict between two nuclear-armed nations remains a direct threat to regional and international peace.

Dr. Fai recalled that U.N. Security Council Resolution 47 of April 21, 1948, co-sponsored by the United States and the United Kingdom, affirmed that the future of Kashmir was to be decided by the free will of its people under U.N. supervision, and subsequent resolutions adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) further reinforced that commitment.

In 2005, he pointed out that the U.S. State Department revoked the visa of Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, citing reports linked to the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, with a sworn testimony submitted before India’s Supreme Court regarding the 2002 violence.

The Kashmiri leader emphasized that Kashmir remains internationally recognized as a disputed territory; that the resistance movement is rooted in opposition to what he termed a foreign occupation; and that the international community’s prolonged silence has contributed to a sense of impunity regarding human rights violations in the region.

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Referring to the constitutional and demographic changes India introduced after revocation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, Dr. Fai stated that millions of domicile certificates had since been issued to non-Kashmiris, a deliberate effort to alter the demographic composition of the the disputed territory. He further alleged that large-scale land acquisitions and forced relocations of indigenous residents violated international humanitarian law.

In this regard, Dr. Fai compared the scale of the land transfers to the size of five boroughs of New York City, which is only 191,000 acre of land, arguing that such policies represented systematic dispossession of local communities.

Throughout the address, Dr. Fai invoked comments and reports from international organizations, journalists, parliamentarians, and human rights advocates to support his assessment regarding conditions in Kashmir.

He cited observations made by Genocide Watch Chairman Dr. Gregory Stanton before the U.S. Congress, concerns raised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, remarks by head of European parliamentary delegation, John Cushnahan, and commenties by author Arundhati Roy regarding the militarization of the region. Also, The New York Times on August 10, 2019 headlined an article ‘Inside Kashmir, Cut Off from the world: A living hell of anger and fear,’ and Huff Post which wrote on August 5, 2019 that Indian democracy is dying in silence in Kashmir.

Dr. Fai also highlighted the cases of prominent Kashmiri political leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders, including Khurram Parvez, Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Alam Bhat, Aasia Andrabi, Sofi Fehmeeda, Nahida Nasreen, and Irfan Mehraj, calling their detentions and prosecutions as aimed at silencing dissent in Kashmir.

Addressing the broader geopolitical implications of the conflict, Dr. Fai warned that recent tensions between India and Pakistan demonstrated once again that Kashmir remains “the most dangerous place on earth.” He referred to the mediation offers by US President Donald Trump and urged major world powers to facilitate meaningful dialogue involving India, Pakistan, and the authentic leadership of the Kashmiri people.

Dr. Fai stated that lasting peace in South Asia would remain elusive until the promises made to the people of Kashmir through United Nations resolutions were fulfilled in accordance with international law and democratic principles.

Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan Khan, Director of Public Outreach, Voices of Justice in Kashmir; Sardar Zarif Khan, President øf Kashmir American Welfare Association, (KAWA) and Sardar Shoaib Irshad, Advisor to the Prime Minister Azad Kashmir commended the ICNA leadership for arranging a significant session.