Geneva: During the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, an Indian researcher called for a more people-centred and development-oriented understanding of Jammu and Kashmir.
A video presentation by Anika Nazir, a community development professional and researcher from Jammu and Kashmir, was played during the session, which is held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from September 7 to October 7.
In her intervention, Nazir called for Jammu and Kashmir to be viewed beyond a predominantly geopolitical framework and through the lived realities of its people.
She stressed the importance of engaging with verified facts and ground-level realities rather than narratives shaped by misinformation or disinformation, including what she described as Pakistan’s information warfare concerning the region.
She also underlined that women should not be understood exclusively through the experiences of conflict, loss and adversity, but also through their growing participation in education, entrepreneurship, professional life, livelihoods and community leadership.
“Today, women are becoming entrepreneurs, professionals, educators and community leaders. And to me, true empowerment is not simply giving women a voice. It is creating a society that is willing to listen when women speak. Kashmir deserves to be understood through facts, through the realities on the ground and not through misinformation or disinformation created by Pakistan’s information warfare,” she stressed.
She requested the UNHRC and global platforms working for peace to look at Jammu and Kashmir through fresh lenses.
“Look at its women building, look at its youth dreaming, look at its community rebuilding. Do not just reduce it to our geopolitical narrative. J&K is a living society with people, dreams and aspirations. Its story should not be written for us. It should be written by us with dignity, with development and with peace,” Nazir highlighted.
Her message drew attention to a changing Jammu and Kashmir—where women are increasingly emerging as professionals, entrepreneurs, educators and community leaders, and where young people continue to pursue education, livelihoods and aspirations for the future.
She emphasised that the voices of people from Jammu and Kashmir, particularly women and communities working to rebuild and develop their social and economic lives, should form an important part of conversations concerning the region.
Nazir’s presentation ultimately centred on the need to recognise dignity, development, resilience and peace alongside the complex history of Jammu and Kashmir, and to allow the region’s people to articulate their own experiences and aspirations on international platforms.
(IANS)
