Jammu and Kashmir: Forced Division & Humanitarian Crisis

The Geneva Press Club welcomes the United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP) for a round table about the situation in Jammu Kashmir.

With

• Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri Chairman, United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP)
• Dr Chongsi Ayeah Joseph President/Chief Executive, Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy
• Mr Carls Gustav Bjertnes President and Co-founder, Cooperative SEEDS Investments / SEEDS-AFRICA Focused on social
•  entrepreneurship and enterprise development strategies
• Fazal Rehman Afridi President, IRESK, Khyber Institute for Research & Strategic Studies, France
• Mr Mahmood Ahmed Kashmiri Chairman, Jammu Kashmir National Independence Alliance (JKNIA)
• Jamil Maqsood President, Foreign Affairs Committee, UKPNP
• Sherbaz Khan Activist, Awami Workers Party, Gilgit Baltistan
• Moderator: Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan Central Spokesperson, UKPNP, Journalist and Columnist

Background and Rationale

The Jammu Kashmir conflict is on United Nations agenda since 1948.The unresolved Jammu and Kashmir conflict continues to have significant political, humanitarian and human rights consequences for millions of people across the historically divided region. Decades of political uncertainty, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, questions concerning democratic representation and control over natural resources continue to affect communities on different sides of the divided territory.

Against this background, the United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP) is organising a conference at the Geneva Press Club to provide a platform for informed discussion on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir, with particular attention to developments in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir.

The conference will examine the growing people’s rights movement in the region, including public demands relating to fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, governance, economic and social rights, access to essential services and the protection of natural resources.

Particular attention will be given to concerns surrounding restrictions on peaceful assembly and expression, reported state repression, arrests and pressure on activists, as well as disruptions to communications and their wider impact on civil society, journalists and local communities.

Purpose of the Conference

The conference aims to bring together human rights defenders, political representatives, journalists, researchers, legal experts, civil society representatives and members of the Kashmiri diaspora for a substantive and peaceful exchange of perspectives.

The discussion will place current developments within the wider historical and political context of the forced division of the former princely State of Jammu and Kashmir and consider their implications for human rights, democratic participation and regional stability.

The conference will also provide an opportunity for participants to consider the role of the United Nations, international human rights mechanisms, governments, civil society and the international media in promoting peaceful dialogue, accountability and respect for internationally recognised human rights standards.

Key Areas of Discussion

• • The historical and continuing consequences of the division of Jammu and Kashmir
• • The current humanitarian and human rights situation in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir
• • The people’s rights movement and its principal democratic, economic and social demands
• • Freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association and access to information
• • Allegations of state repression, arrests and restrictions affecting activists, journalists and civil society
• • Democratic representation, governance and the rights of local communities over land and natural resources
• • The role of international human rights institutions, civil society and independent media
• • Prospects for peaceful dialogue and a democratic, rights-based approach to addressing the Jammu and Kashmir question

Format

The event will consist of keynote interventions followed by a moderated panel discussion and an interactive question-and-answer session with journalists, experts and participants.

The conference is intended to provide an open, peaceful and professional forum for dialogue, allowing different perspectives to be discussed while keeping international human rights principles and the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir at the centre of the conversation.

Organiser

United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP)

The UKPNP advocates a peaceful, democratic and secular approach to the Jammu and Kashmir question and promotes fundamental rights, democratic freedoms, social justice and the right of the people of the historically divided region to participate meaningfully in decisions concerning their political future.