Srinagar: Hurriyat (M) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been invited to attend the 61ist Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs to be held in the Loujima Island of Japan’s Nagasaki city from November 1 to 5.

A spokesman of Hurriyat (M) said in a statement to KNS that Mirwaiz has received the formal invite of attending the conference from Pugwash Secretary General, Paolo Cotta Ramusino.

This year’s Pugwash conference is being held to commemorate the 70 years of Nagasaki bombing of 1945, which is being attended by the prominent politicians of the world, representatives of noted Human Rights organizations, intellectuals, scientists and subject experts.

However, the Government of India has for the past three years stopped the Hurriyat (M) Chairman from proceeding to any destination abroad by denying him travel documents as a result of which he would not be able to attend Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) or any other international conferences and seminars.

He said this way New Delhi, in utter violation of norms laid down by its own constitution, had been denying Mirwaiz the right to Travel.

Demanding the passport and travel documents of the Hurriyat (M) Chairman, the spokesman said the government should not create hurdles in the way of Mirwaiz from attending the Conferences and Seminars on Religious, Political and Human Rights.

He said the Mirwaiz in his response to the Pugwash conference Organizers conveyed his well wishes to them for organizing this year’s conference in Japan’s Nagasaki city, which, along with Hiroshima, had been brought to ruins in 1945 by dropping atomic bomb on it.

Mirwaiz while expressing his views over holding the Pugwash conference in Nagasaki said dropping atomic bombs on the twin cities of Japan in 1945 was an aggression not only on the people of Japan but on the entire humanity.

He paid tributes to the steadfastness and resilience shown by the Japanese people during the past 70 years for having fought back to put these cities back on track after being in ruins.

Hurriyat (M) Chairman said the presence of nuclear weapons is always dangerous for the world peace and humanity.

He said the nuclear arms race in South Asia has converted this region into the most dangerous zone of the world and that the two neighboring countries – India and Pakistan are in arms race because of unresolved Kashmir dispute.

Mirwaiz said Kashmir, which has remained unresolved for the past 68 years, had brought India and Pakistan to loggerheads and the two countries had fought three wars over Kashmir.

He said Kashmir had become a nuclear flashpoint as the two countries had been amassing their nuclear stockpiles, thus becoming a threat to peace in entire South Asia.

Hurriyat (M) Chairman said billions of people living in the region would continue to suffer due to the presence of destructive weapons and the continued arms race between India and Pakistan and until Kashmir issue was resolved, peace and prosperity would evade the entire region.

He said Pugwash, international human rights organizations and other world bodies that care for the betterment of humanity and world peace need to play a positive role to avoid another nuclear war in South Asia due to the pending Kashmir dispute.

Mirwaiz said the international community needed to understand that the only way to end the nuclear arms race in the region was by resolving Kashmir issue in its historic context and as per the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir. (KNS)