Remarks by DG ISSI Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, at Seminar on
“Kashmir Solidarity Day: A Commitment to Peace, Rights and
Self-Determination” & Inauguration of “Kashmir Resource Centre”
ISSI, 7 February 2025
It is a great pleasure to welcome everyone to the ISSI for this Seminar in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day and the inauguration of the “Kashmir Resource Center.”
We have a panel of distinguished speakers representing the youth, academia, think- tanks, practitioners, and political leadership. Our special thanks to Honourable Ghulam Mohammad Safi sahib, Convener of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), for being part of today’s events. The APHC’s vanguard role in the fight for the Kashmiris’ rights is widely acknowledged and the APHC leadership on both sides of the Line of Control deserves deep appreciation for its committed efforts.
It is an honour to have Ambassador Amna Baloch, Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, as the chief guest. The Foreign Office’s part in ensuring that the Kashmir cause remains at the core of Pakistan’s foreign policy is laudable. We are grateful to Foreign Secretary Baloch for her own contributions in this regard.
On 5 February, we witnessed the whole nation galvanized as one to reaffirm Pakistan’s abiding support and solidarity for the Kashmiri people in their just struggle. Over the past 78 years, Kashmiris have resolutely resisted India’s illegal occupation; patiently endured brutal suppression at the hands of the occupying forces; and refused to flinch from their resolve to fight for freedom.
Their movement is rooted firmly in the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. The relevant UN Security Council resolutions categorically affirmed the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and prescribed the modality of a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations to help them exercise this inalienable right. This solution to the Kashmir dispute was accepted by India, Pakistan, and the international community.
While Pakistan and the Kashmiris remain steadfast in their quest for a solution based on the Security Council resolutions, India has long reneged on its solemn commitments. The international community, for the large part, vacillates between inaction and placation of India owing to geo-strategic considerations or corporate interests. As a result, along with the denial of the Kashmiris’ rights, peace continues to be imperilled in South Asia.
Meanwhile, India’s conduct in the occupied territories remains abhorrent — marked by heartless cruelty and repression, political manipulation, demographic engineering, and an onslaught of misinformation and disinformation. From seeking to paint the legitimate resistance struggle as “terrorism” to levelling allegations of “cross-border terrorism” against Pakistan, and from making desperate attempts to secure international legitimacy for its own illegal actions to projecting a false sense of ‘normalcy’ since 5 August 2019, New Delhi remains engaged in strategic deception. While India employs the currency of raw power, the Kashmiris have history, morality and legality on their side. And their sacrifices shall not be in vain. They shall prevail, InshaAllah! As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us: “The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long. But it Bends Towards Justice.”
For the Kashmiris and the people of Pakistan, it is imperative to reject any narratives of despair and to keep faith in the prospects of a fair settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The freedom struggles of many nations, from the Irish to the Palestinians, show that historical processes take time to unfold.
What we need to ensure is to sustain perseverance of commitment; fortify unity and national consensus; and maintain steadiness of purpose. Internal strength inevitably translates into external influence. A fully reinvigorated economy, robust defence preparedness, agile and proactive diplomacy, and unshakeable resolve remain indispensable drivers of an impactful policy. There is no doubt that every stakeholder across the nation believes in this just cause and is committed to its full promotion.
Distinguished participants,
While commemorating the Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Institute of Strategic Studies is proud to announce the establishment of the “Kashmir Resource Centre.” This is the first of its kind in a Pakistani think-tank. The ISSI is sincerely grateful for the support extended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the fruition of this initiative.
The “Kashmir Resource Centre” is envisaged as a dedicated hub for comprehensive, reliable and accessible information related to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in its multiple dimensions. The idea is to consolidate a whole range of resources –including UN resolutions, reports from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), and other UN archives relevant to the Kashmir dispute; reports, statements and press releases issued by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; reports and findings from international human rights organizations such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Asia Watch, Concerned Citizens, and Doctors Without Borders; research works by Kashmiri, Pakistani, Indian and foreign scholars; biographies and auto-biographies of key Kashmiri leaders; publications by think-tanks; and works of literature. To begin with, we have over 400 published books and reports and vast digital resources. This will remain a work-in-progress and the Institute would continue to refurbish this collection in the future.
In this connection, I wish to take this opportunity to extend our sincere gratitude to Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch for the Foreign Office’s valuable support and for agreeing to inaugurate the Centre. I also wish to acknowledge and appreciate the support extended by the Khurshid National Library in Muzaffarabad as well as several of our sister think-tanks — including ISSRA, IPS, KIIR, IPRI, CISS-AJK, and CASS — for their unfailing help. Last but not the least, I wish to compliment our excellent India Study Center team that worked tirelessly along with the Administration and Library to ensure that we accomplished the task in a timely manner.
The Kashmir Resource Centre will provide practitioners, scholars, researchers, students, activists, journalists, and lay readers with a repository of knowledge to support insightful research, dialogue, and advocacy on the Kashmir issue. Hopefully, the Centre will play a meaningful part in creating increased awareness and understanding and promote informed discourse, particularly among the youth of Pakistan about this most intractable of global issues from the last century.
With these words, I welcome everyone again and wish fruitful deliberations during the event.
