Altaf Ahmed Bhat
Chairman, Institute of Voice of Victims

Every February 5 we do more than hold rallies and light candles. We remind the world of a promise left unfinished; the pledge that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would one day decide their own future. That promise is written into UN resolutions and into the history of this dispute. For ordinary Kashmiris, it isn’t abstract law: it’s the only legitimate path out of occupation, repression and endless grief.

Here’s the thing: February 5 is not a casual observance. Since 1990 it has been marked as Kashmir Solidarity Day across Pakistan and by the global Kashmiri diaspora. It is a national holiday in Pakistan and an occasion when parliaments, civic groups and communities join to amplify the demand for Kashmiris’ inalienable right to choose their future. On this day we form human chains, hold joint sessions in Muzaffarabad, stage peace marches, run seminars and screen films that tell a story the world has tried to ignore. Those are not mere ceremonies; they are acts of political witness.

The moral and legal case is simple and persistent. United Nations resolutions, debated and adopted in the wake of 1947–49, called for a free and impartial plebiscite so Kashmiris could determine whether they wanted to join India, Pakistan or live independently. Decades of delay, selective enforcement, and geopolitical maneuvering have turned that legal remedy into an open wound. While speeches and statements arrive each year, action does not. That gap — between promise and practice — is what keeps generations of Kashmiris trapped under a militarized status quo.

So what must change? First, the international community has to stop treating Kashmir as a bilateral talking point and start treating it as a human-rights and self-determination crisis that demands concrete steps: independent investigations into abuses, safe channels for civil society and journalists, and renewed diplomatic pressure to revive a genuine, UN-monitored process that foregrounds the wishes of Kashmiri people themselves. Second, Kashmiris in all parts of the land must be allowed to organize, speak and petition without fear of detention or disappearance. Third, every expression of solidarity — from embassy events to diaspora protests — must be linked to clear demands and practical advocacy, not only slogans.

If February 5 has taught us anything, it’s this: rituals without reform are a poor substitute for rights. We respect those who light candles and form human chains; we thank every journalist and diplomat who keeps telling the story. But respect and attention without targeted pressure and accountability will not change the facts on the ground. The world must stop assuming inertia equals consent. Silence from power has become part of the machinery that keeps occupation in place.

For those who read this in Islamabad, New York, Geneva or Srinagar, hear this plainly: Kashmiris will keep insisting on the only remedy that respects our dignity — the right to decide. February 5 is our annual reminder, not an endpoint. The demand is simple, and it is honest: implement the commitments already made, protect our people, and let us choose. Anything less is a postponement of justice that has already lasted far too long.