Kashmir Scholars Action Group sends open letter to UN

The letter, sent on August 31, addresses the UN’s decision to create a fact-finding mission and deplore the refusal of the Indian government to allow access to UN Human Rights monitors. The letter further said “in an absence of such a mission, the group feels it is essential that the civil society groups regularly update on the situation in Kashmir.” The Kashmir Scholars Action Group is an interdisciplinary group of scholars of various nationalities engaged in research on Kashmir. In the letter, the action group stated that it believes the Kashmir conflict is not an “internal matter” as previously claimed by India nor is it a matter that can be resolved by bilateral Indo-Pak negotiations. This unending conflict cannot be resolved without the wishes of the Kashmiri people or “through direct means such as the referendum promised by UN Security Council resolutions in 1948, the conditions of which both Pakistan and India have failed to fulfill,” the letter further stated.