Kashmir round-table conference on June 11

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmir American Council/ Kashmir Center Washington D.C is organizing a Kashmir Round table on June 11 here, wherein all the leadership of Azad Kashmir and All Parties Hurriyet Conference will attend. Besides the Kashmirs leadership, Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira - Minister of Kashmir Affairs, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq - Muslim League Nawaz (N), Senator Mushahid Hussain - Muslim League (Q), Senator Prof. Kurshsid Ahmed - Jammat-e-Islami, Moulana Fazlur Rehman - Chairman, Kashmir Committee, Mr. Imran Khan - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Dr. Abdul Sattar - MQM have been invited.

The conference titled " The Common Minimum Agenda" will focus on how to lead the final settlement of Kashmir dispute.

After attending the 36th session of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Damascus on the invitation of Professor Ekmaluddin Ehsanoglu, Secretary General of OIC Dr Fai Executive Director Kashmir American Council/ Kashmir Centre Washington D.C is currently on ten days visit to Pakistan.

The Department of Peace and Conflict Management, Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University, Islamabad has also invited Dr Fai to present a paper on 8 June entitled Kashmir Dispute in Backdrop of Contemporary Environment.

Dr Fai arrived to Islamabad on June 2 and has already held meetings with Prime Minister and President of Azad Jammu & Kashmir during the past days.

He presented a paper on May 30, 2009, entitled The Applicability of the Right of Self-Determination & the United Nations during an International conference at The Human Rights Mechanism & the United Nations on May 31st in Istanbul.

He will also attend part of the 11th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to be held in Geneva from June 11 to 18, 2009.

Dr Fai believes that the changes in the global community in general and the United States after November 2008 election in particular are creating a surge of expectations among the people of Kashmir for fulfilling the international promise of self-determination.

He said that hundreds of petitions have been circulated and presented to the UN Military Observer Groups in Srinagar during the unprecedented non-violent processions in 2008.

He asserted that this approach demonstrates the peaceful and indigenous nature of our sentiments and trust in justice under international law.

Profile of Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai

Dar Fai is the Executive Director of the Washington based Kashmiri American Council /Kashmir Center. He believes in the peaceful settlement of the Kashmir conflict through tripartite negotiations between Governments of India and Pakistan and the accredited leadership of the people of he State of Jammu & Kashmir.

Dr. Fai is the founding chairman of the California-based World Peace Forum. He is the Chairman of the International Institute of Kashmir Studies. He is also the Chairman of the Kashmiri American Foundation & the London-based Justice Foundation.

Dr. Fai holds a Ph.D. in mass communications from Temple University, Pennsylvania, and an M.A. from the Aligarh University in India. As a student leader, he represented the International Federation of Student Organizations at many international conferences. In 1986, he addressed the United Nations Conference in New York on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries. At Temple University, he was elected as the President of the International Students Association and Director of Temple University, Graduate Students Council. He was also a member of the Temple University President Students Advisory Council. He was also elected as the General Secretary of the Temple University Space & Funding Committee. Dr. Fai was elected as the President of the Muslim Students Association of the United States & Canada between 1984-1988, whose membership exceeded 73,000 in 1988.

Dr. Fai is the Distinguished Member of the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle. He was awarded Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom in 2005. This is the highest honor the Republican Member of the United States Senate can bestow. Dr. Fai was also awarded the Prestigious Distinction of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Commission in June 2007 as a dedicated Republican and inspiring leader. On October 12, 2007, he was presented with the American Spirit Medal, the highest and most prestigious honor to be given to an individual.

Dr. Fai was selected as a member to New York-based Strathmore's WHO'S WHO list in January 1995 for his public relations, education and communication expertise. He was included in the constellation of Five Hundred Leaders of Influence, a listing that is reserved for Outstanding Leadership for the Public Relations; and the Excellence in Global Relations. He was also included in the International Who of Intellectuals, in recognition of his distinguished achievements. He is also the member of National Register's Who's Who in Executives and Professionals.

Dr. Fai was invited to New York to attend the United Nations Conference on Conflict Resolutions in September 1992. He was also invited to Vienna, Austria to the United Nations Second World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993. During the Vienna conference, he was elected chairman of the United Nations Unrepresented Peoples and Nations of the World (UPN). He attended the Third Global Structures Convocation organized by the United Nations, Washington, D.C., in July 1993. He was invited as the guest speaker by the World Affairs Council, Cedar Rapids, Michigan in 2001 and World Affairs Council, Richmond, Virginia in 2003.

He addressed the 46th thru 61st Sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) at Geneva; and also participated in the 41st thru 57th Sessions of the United Nations Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at Geneva. He attended the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2006 & 2007. He was invited to attend the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Summit of the Head of the States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in January 1981 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; December 1992 in Dakar, Senegal; in December 1994 in Casablanca, Morocco; in December 1997 in Tehran, Iran; in November 2000 in Doha, Qatar; and in October, 2003 in Putrajaya, Malaysia respectively. He addressed the preliminary session at the Centennial Conference of Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in August 1993. He participated in the 42nd Session of the United Nations

Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 1998. He addressed the 14th International Conference on Conflict Resolution in St. Petersburg, Russia in May 2006. He also addressed the Fourth International Conference on Global Good in Honolulu, Hawaii in June 2006.

Dr. Fai was invited by the European Parliament to present a briefing paper for "Kashmir Round Table, held in Brussels in October 1993. He was also invited by the Washington based U.S. Institute of Peace to submit a paper for Conference on Kashmir. He participated in the Kashmir Roundtable at the Capitol Hill, organized by the Washington based Congressional Human Rights Foundation in June 1994. He also attended the 42nd Session of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York in July 1994. He participated in the United States Department of State's conference on "Human Rights Policy in the Post Cold War Era" in April 1995 that was held in Washington, D.C. He attended the United Nations 50 Committee conference in San Francisco in June 1995. He was invited to XX Conference of Heads of State of the Non Aligned Movement in September 1995 at Cartagena, Columbia as a special guest.

Dr. Fai organized five International Kashmir Peace Conferences at the Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007; and two International Kashmir Peace Conferences in New York City in 2004 and 2005 and First Latin American Kashmir Conference in July 2007 at Montevideo, Uruguay. He organized an International Conference on the issue of Self-determination on September 28, 2006 at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Fai has been a leading spokesman for the Kashmir cause for over three decades and has traveled to over forty countries lecturing on the subject. His articles appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Chicago tribune, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Plain Dealer, Baltimore Sun and many other foreign policy journals in the United States and around the world.

Dr. Fai comes from Badgam Tehsil of U.N. recognized disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir. He has been living in exile since August 1980 for his political beliefs. He is married and has two children.