By Maha Tanveer

“A paradise on Earth” was once used to describe the magnificent Valley of Kashmir by a Persian Emperor. Though most people think of turbulence and violence when they hear the name of Kashmir, the Valley is one the most beautiful places on Earth surrounded by some of the highest mountain ranges of the world. With Kashmir being a disputed territory sandwiched between India and Pakistan, the people who have been suffering the most since 1947 have been 13 million Kashmiris themselves. With such a substantial and unfortunately neglected
issue, it was important for someone to step it up to bring its awareness to the public eye.

The George Mason University’s Pakistani Student Association hosted a political panel discussion called “Kashmir: Ground Realities and International Response” on Thurs., Oct. 28 from 6-10 pm in Dewberry Hall. The structure of the lecture was a panel discussion that aimed to explore the different solutions to set the stage for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute. Renowned speakers from the Pakistan Embassy were invited to speak including Dr.Ghulam Nabi Fai,
Executive Director of the Kashmiri American Council, Barrister Sultan Mahmood, the former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Iffat Gardezi, the DCM of the Embassy of Pakistan, and George Washington University’s professor, Imtiaz Khan.

The panel discussion featured many talks that served as eye openers for people who wanted to educate themselves about Kashmir. One surprising fact about Kashmir is that it is the territory with most soldiers, with more than 700,000 military personnel living in the state. Taking this statistic into consideration, Dr.Fai believes in demilitarization of Kashmir, the removal of Pakistani and Indian forces from the area. He believes that not only will this end suffering in
Kashmir, but it will also eradicate “regional fighting, national tensions, and the risk of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.” After being educated by such facts, the attendees were given an opportunity to ask any questions they had in front of the panelists. The night ended with dinner for the guests. Though this event was targeted towards the youth, it was unfortunate to see that many were not present among the attendees.

“Most of the people that care about the Kashmir issue belong to an older generation, as you see in this crowd there are not that many youth that are affected by this issue. I know for a fact that most youth who don't have much information about Kashmir and the people and how their human rights are being violated do not care about the issue, and the generation that does care about it will soon be gone. I would just like to sum up that humanitarian law is being
violated, and we as citizens of the strongest nation in the world chose not to do anything about it,” said Israr Mirza, GMU PSA President.

The highlight of the night was that more than 50 petitions were signed by the attendees. Called “The Petition to President Barack Obama on the Situation in Kashmir,” the petition requested President Obama to initiate a peaceful settlement for the state during his forthcoming visit to India.

It gives great remorse to see that the violence in Kashmir is as common as Dr.Fai mentioned the “rising of the sun in the East and its setting in the West.” Since democracy and human rights fail to be restored in the state, Kashmiris still suffer torture, property damage, and violence. GMU PSA treats this as a serious issue and encourages all especially the youth to educate themselves more about this issue.