YFK-International Kashmir Lobby Group (Youth Forum for Kashmir) (full name) is a non-governmental organization working on strategies for peaceful conflict resolution and protection of human rights in the disputed region of Jammu & Kashmir (Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir). Headquartered in Islamabad, Pakistan, YFK is a registered NGO run by rotating teams of specialists in human rights, diplomacy, and international law, drawn from university scholars and students, journalists, members of the academia, young political activists, and human rights defenders from mainly Pakistan and AJK (Azad Kashmir). This includes young Kashmiris from refugee families that sought exile in Pakistan after escaping violence in Kashmir post-1989. The organization advocates for the right to self-determination for Kashmiris through a plebiscite to decide whether Kashmir joins India or Pakistan, as provisioned under United Nations Security Council Resolution 47. The group apparently scaled back its operations since 2022 due to a fall in donations from inside Pakistan and the Kashmiri diaspora internationally, as Pakistan's economic crunch impacted the work of civil society organizations. Also, the political turmoil in Pakistan in 2022-2023 eclipsed all other issues.
YFK (abbreviated) was founded [1] [2] in 2013 by Muhammed Mian Soomro, a Pakistani politician who served as a banker, and a former Senate chairman. He currently serves as the Federal Minister for Privatization. The idea stemmed from generational shifts in the conflict [3] in India, Pakistan, and Kashmir that required a new approach to conflict-resolution without compromising principles. It is one of many Kashmir-related organizations created in Pakistan, a country that is home to the second largest Kashmiri population [4] [5] outside the historic State of Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistan is also home to Kashmiri refugees from various India-Pakistan wars over the territory. YFK receives donations from Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen to fund [6] its operations. The organization is audited by private accountants and it is accountable, as an NGO, to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
The organization refers to itself as ‘YFK-International Kashmir Lobby Group’ in the long form or simply YFK. [7] It liaises with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, the Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, United Nations mechanisms, and likeminded INGOs to build momentum for the peaceful end to the conflict in Kashmir, and to promote the civil and political rights of Kashmiris. To achieve these objectives, YFK works with media organizations; [8] publishes policy briefs and conducts seminars and workshops. [9] [10] [11]
The organization has listed Kashmiri identity and culture as key concerns, and fears fatigue, time, and other international developments could further diminish [12] [ non-primary source needed ] the already limited global interest in this conflict. To generate and circulate knowledge on Kashmir in this long, drawn-out conflict, YFK conducts training sessions to prepare speakers [13] [ non-primary source needed ] [14] [ non-primary source needed ] conversant in various aspects of the conflict (political, legal, women, children, human rights, diplomacy) to engage a global audience.
YFK is a relatively young organization (established in 2013). Some of the notable persons associated with it, currently and in the past, are:
Producing books and papers on Kashmir is a stated YFK objective, [30] mainly due to a general scarcity of books on Kashmir in Pakistan, India, and internationally. India's Hindustan Times notes that, "Unlike Palestine and Northern Ireland, not much has been written about Kashmir." [31] [32] YFK representatives have complained at various speaking engagements that the organization's library of books and publications contains few quality works on Kashmir produced in Pakistan. [33]
Titles of some recent YFK publications:
Critics (mostly on social media) have criticized YFK-International Kashmir Lobby Group for not more robustly criticizing Government of Pakistan policies on Kashmir. Ideological Kashmiri activists that promote Kashmir independence from both India and Pakistan view YFK as a status quo organization. YFK has also been dubbed a pro-Pakistan lobby group. Variations of these criticisms have been received by YFK accounts on Twitter in the 2014–2020 period. [34]
In their various speaking engagements, YFK lobbyists have defended themselves by citing their varied work, writings, and activism where they criticized Pakistani officials, and where they did not align with official Pakistani positions on contacts with India, insisting on maintaining close contacts with members of Indian civil society when Pakistan and India downgraded their diplomatic relations; also welcoming former President Trump’s statements on Kashmir [35] [36] despite the cool reception [37] from the Pakistani government and political parties, and taking the lead in showing empathy for the citizens of India during the 2021 COVID surge and oxygen shortage.
Some YFK members publicly criticized Pakistan government's diplomatic focus on Gaza-Israel conflict in May 2021, and compared it to what they said was tepid Pakistani diplomacy on Kashmir.
Generally, YFK positions on Kashmir policies of India and Pakistan strike a balance between criticism and lobbying.
Between 2013 and 2021, YFK played a role in mobilising Pakistan's media and public opinion on Kashmir, contributing to a noticeable gradual return of interest in Kashmir-related developments to the limelight in Pakistani politics. In the process, several YFK members became authorities on the subject for Pakistani media and Pakistan-based international media.
On 4 February 2021, a senior YFK official announced that "India is not an enemy for Pakistan and Kashmiris." The conciliatory statement was important because it was made at the Presidency of Pakistan in Islamabad in front of a select audience that included the President of Pakistan, the Foreign Minister, and the National Security Advisor. The event was broadcast on state-run television. [38] [39]
In 2014, YFK introduced the term ‘Kashmir is the unfinished agenda of Pakistani independence.’ The term, first used in a YFK press statement on Pakistan Resolution Day in March 2014, [40] captured the imagination of Pakistani media and political elite and was tweeted by the spokesman of Pakistan Armed Forces on 3 June 2015, [41] [ non-primary source needed ] and borrowed later by former Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif in a speech he made on the same day. [42]
On 10 March 2018, a short film produced by YFK on the life of prominent Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir was screened at a side event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. [43]
Jammu and Kashmir was a region formerly administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan and China since the mid-20th century. The underlying region of this state were parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, whose western districts, now known as Azad Kashmir, and northern territories, now known as Gilgit-Baltistan, are administered by Pakistan. The Aksai Chin region in the east, bordering Tibet, has been under Chinese control since 1962.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and the 1st elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession to India. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh and urged self-rule for Kashmir.He is also known as Sher-e-Kashmir
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan was a Kashmiri revolutionary leader and politician, who led the 1947 Poonch Rebellion against absolute rule of the Maharaja in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and played a key role in the First Kashmir War, supporting Pakistan. He served as the President of Azad Kashmir for 13 years across four non-consecutive terms and still remains the longest-serving president of the state, since its establishment.
The Sudhanoti District, meaning the "heartland of Sudhans" or "Sudhan heartland"),
The Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir or Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (JIJK) is an Islamic political party based in the city of Srinagar in the Indian administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is distinct from the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. The organisation's stated position on the Kashmir conflict is that Kashmir is a disputed territory and the issue must be sorted as per UN or through tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and representatives of Kashmir.
Kashmir Solidarity Day or Kashmir Day is a national holiday observed in Pakistan on 5 February annually. It is observed to show Pakistan's support and unity with the people of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiri separatists' efforts to secede from the Indian Republic, and to pay homage to the Kashmiris who have died in the conflict. Solidarity rallies are held in the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and by Mirpuri Kashmiris in the United Kingdom.
The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (Urdu: آل جموں و کشمیر مسلم کانفرنس) also shortly referred as Muslim Conference (MC) is a political party in Pakistan administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The party was founded by Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Syed Aziz Badshah of Dadyal in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir as a splinter group of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference.
United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP) is a political party that advocates for an independent, united, and socialist Kashmir.
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Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas was a leading politician of Jammu and Kashmir and the President of the Muslim Conference party. After his migration to Pakistan administered Kashmir in 1947, he became the head of the Azad Kashmir (AJK) government.
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Khurram Parvez is a Kashmiri human rights activist. He is the chairperson of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the program coordinator of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. Khurram is a recipient of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award. Parvez was included in Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2022.
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Qazi Shibli is a Kashmiri journalist and editor of The Kashmiriyat, a digital newspaper covering general, political and human rights news from Jammu and Kashmir. In December 2019, Shibli's detainment ranked fifth on Time's list of "10 most urgent threats to press freedom."