There is no military solution that could resolve the yearslong conflict over the contested Jammu and Kashmir region, said Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

In an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah during Chaudhry’s visit to Türkiye, the president called for a dialogue, reiterating that unrest has dominated the region since Jammu and Kashmir’s status was changed four years ago.

"Since then, there has been a struggle, a movement in occupied Kashmir. Currently, it is like a direct rule of Delhi in occupied Kashmir," Chaudhry said, describing the latest situation in the region, adding that there have been "human rights violations and arrest" of many leaders participating in the freedom movement."

He said that many young people have been imprisoned while prominent Kashmiri pro-independence leader Mohammed Yasin Malik was sentenced to life in prison last year.

"Still the resistance movement is there," Chaudhry added, saying that millions of people are part of such movements.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted it independence in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control.

Tensions escalated again when India unilaterally revoked the autonomous status of its part of Kashmir in 2019.

In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government reorganized Jammu and Kashmir, then India's only Muslim-majority state, into two federally administered territories, aiming to spur development.

For many of Jammu and Kashmir's Muslims, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) policies upending decades of autonomy and privilege represent a dangerous new phase in what they see as a nationwide push to champion the rights of the Hindu majority over minority groups.

"They are changing the demography of the region," Chaudhry said in an accusation toward India, likening the process to the Israeli policies in occupied Palestine.

"Moreover, they are settling non-Kashmiris into occupied Kashmir, such as Indian Hindus and other Indians," the president highlighted.

Chaudhry further accused New Delhi of engaging in changes that would enable it to elect a Hindu chief minister in the region. "As the region is Muslim-majority – they (India) just want to show the world that a Hindu chief minister can be elected," Chaudhry added, saying that the move indicated their intentions.

Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two parts. Jammu has about 5.3 million inhabitants, 62% of whom are Hindu while Kashmir Valley has 6.7 million, 97% of them Muslims, according to a 2011 census. Estimates from survey officials and senior bureaucrats suggest the population stood at 15.5 million in 2021.

From 1954, the Indian region enjoyed special status under India's Constitution.

The shift in the political landscape came in 2019 when the BJP-led parliament in New Delhi revoked this status, which had denied rights to many Hindu communities not considered indigenous to the region.

Until the region's special status was revoked, secular left-of-center parties with Muslim leaders controlled the local assembly and whoever governed India from New Delhi tended not to dabble in the region's political autonomy.

The assembly, which controls the state budget, spending, employment, education and economic activity, was dissolved and a lieutenant governor was appointed to run the region until local elections can be held – which could be as early as this spring.

Chaudhry said that due to such contested developments in the region, there is no dialogue between India and Pakistan. "The situation is getting dense in the meantime."

On the other side, he indicated that the Indian policies caused minorities to suffer not only in Kashmir but also within India.

"It is damaging the Indian reputation. Once upon a time, India was claiming it is the largest democracy and a secular state in the world. No more," Chaudhry said.

"We are always up for a solution," the president underlined and warned of the consequences that could arise from further conflict between the two archrival nuclear powers.

"Any small incident or accident could trigger a war. If there would be a war, it could be a nuclear war. It would not only affect India, Pakistan and South Asia, it would be a catastrophe for the entire world," he emphasized.

He called on the international community and said that Kashmir is the most dangerous place in the world because of the presence of two nuclear powers that are updating their nuclear programs and technologies, which is "alarming."

"I think that the international community cannot leave two nuclear powers on their own. They must mediate. The core issue between India and Pakistan is Kashmir," he said, reiterating that Kashmiri people are the main concern in the Kashmir conflict.

"I think the main solution is within the resolutions of the Security Council, which clearly says that the future of Kashmir has to be determined according to the free will and aspirations of the people of Kashmir," Chaudhry said.

"Kashmir is one of the oldest issues that came to the agenda of the United Nations and if the Kashmir conflict is not solved, I think the U.N. itself will lose its credibility."

As for the sentiment of the minority Hindu population in Kashmir, Chaudhry said, "They want to see peace as well and have had to suffer violence for years."

"But the rigid policy of India does not allow peace," he lamented.

"We want the international community to play a role, especially Türkiye, which has always supported Kashmir’s self-determination and the security council resolution for a plebiscite in Kashmir," he said, indicating that he met several Turkish politicians and party leaders to ask them to do more for a settlement in Kashmir during his visit.

He said that India does not want Türkiye, the U.S., U.N. or the EU to mediate. "The EU wanted an intra-Kashmir dialogue with the leaders from both sides of Kashmir but India did not allow that," he added.

Türkiye was one of the countries staunchly supporting the cause of the people of Kashmir and had criticized the revoking of the region's autonomous status.

Most recently, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has made a conditional offer to his Indian counterpart to open talks on all outstanding issues between them, including disputed Kashmir. However, the premier's statement asserted that such talks would only be possible if India restored the autonomous status in the part of Kashmir it rules that was revoked in 2019.