Washington, July 24: The Right to Self-determination is an alienable right of people of Jammu and Kashmir, it was high time that people of the state should be allowed this right and the Obama Administration needs to appoint a special envoy and facilitate this sixty two year old dispute resolved was the dominant view on the first day of the   two-day tenth International Peace Conference titled Kashmir Issue: Regional and International Dimension organized by Kashmir American Council and Humanitarian Lawyers Association   held at the capitol here  yesterday.

Hailing the candidate Obama’s perception that Kashmir was the gateway to peace in South-Asia the speakers called upon President Obama not only to appoint a special envoy but also to impress upon the India and Pakistan leadership to resolve this issue that continues to be a nuclear flashpoint between the two countries.

The Conference was inaugurated in glittering Cannon Hall of the Capitol Hill by Congressmen Jim Moran, Congressman Don Burton, Congressman john Conyers, Congressman Kucinich, Congressman Joseph Pitts and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.

On its first day twenty-five presentations were made by academicians, authors, scholars, Journalist, political leaders, diplomats and human rights activists from both the side of Jammu and Kashmir, India, Pakistan, Britain, United States, Canada and other parts of the world. Amongst those who made their presentations included Raja Zulqarnain, President Azad Jammu, Dr. Karen Parker, Ms. Victoria Schofield, Ms. Harinder Baweja, Professor Ghulam Rasool Malik, Amb. Hussain Haqqani , Dr. Maleeha Lodhi,    Mr. Zahid G. Mohammad, Ambassador Howard Schaffer ,Mr. Tapan Bose ,Senator Mushahid Hussain, Amb. Yusuf, Dr. Khalid J. Qazi, Prof. (Dr.) Angana Chatterji , Mr. Ved Mr. Ejaz Sabir, Esq. ,Mr. Gautam Navlakha ,Pandit Jatinder Bakhshi, Dr. Idrisa Pandit, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, MNA-PPP, Dr. Naseem Ashraf, Dr. Mohammad Najib Khan, Mr. Matloob Inkalabi .

The subjects covered on the first day of the seminar included India-Pakistan Relations Breaking Deadlock over Kashmir, Militarization and Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir Issue-Centrality of Kashmiris rights.

In his welcome Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director Kashmiri American Council and Kashmir Centre said that the 10th international peace conference aims at encouraging a peaceful resolution to the disputed territory in which the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are paramount. He said, the objective is to endeavor to achieve that so in spirit of reconciliation not confrontation; equality not discrimination and hope not despair.

Posted on 24 Jul 2009 by Webmaster