Kashmir issue: Separatists press for UN intervention, write to secretary general

The separatist leaders have written to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, seeking his intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue.

The joint letter was written by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik even as the UN chief began his maiden visit to India on Monday. Guterres is scheduled to meet President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj during his three-day visit.

“We would like to urge you to advocate that New Delhi engage with us in Kashmir and with Pakistan, with whom India’s relations are also deteriorating by the day. We have a right to self-determination. Delhi would like us to abdicate that responsibility before they talk. To cede to that demand would be to concede before talks, rendering talks unnecessary,” the letter read.

The letter comes just a day after India and Pakistan sparred at the UN over terrorism and Kashmir.

Earlier, India had called off the planned meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of annual session of the UN general assembly in New York after three policemen were abducted and killed in Kashmir on September 21.

“We feel that India’s refusal to talk is doing unimaginable harm not only to Kashmir, but to the entire South Asian region at a time when interconnectedness culturally, economically and politically...is the driving force in international relations,” the separatist trio, part of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) formed in Kashmir, said.

Ahead of his India visit, Guterres had also voiced concern over the situation in J&K while encouraging “positive dialogue” to resolve the disagreements peacefully.

In the letter, the separatists stated J&K was not a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. “We would like to assert that it is primarily a question of the rights of the peoples of the state of J&K, and that resolution must be sought within the parameters of that definition as well... we would like to emphasise that this facet of the dispute can only be addressed if we, the people of the state, are permitted to represent our case and therefore ask you to champion our right to be heard on the dispute as the primary party to it,” the letter read.