Kashmiri clerics meet Iranian FM on BRICS sidelines, urge dialogue over war

A delegation of senior Kashmiri religious leaders met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New Delhi on Saturday, on the margins of the BRICS Summit, and made a joint call for diplomacy rather than war as the means to settle disputes.

The delegation included Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Aga Syed Hassan, Muntazir Mehdi and Molvi Imran Raza Ansari. A spokesman for the Mirwaiz said the leaders exchanged views with Mr. Araghchi on what they described as the grave situation confronting the region, and called for safeguarding unity within the Muslim Ummah.

The clerics conveyed solidarity with the people of Iran and voiced deep concern over the loss of innocent lives, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the climate of fear and insecurity created by war. They also referred to the continuing devastation in Palestine and to the loss of life and instability in Lebanon.

"War only multiplies human suffering. However serious the differences may be, endless confrontation cannot resolve them. Ultimately, even the most difficult disputes have to return to dialogue, engagement and negotiation," the Mirwaiz told the Iranian Foreign Minister.

He warned that present conflicts must not be allowed to deepen sectarian divisions within the Muslim world, saying the suffering of people in Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere should bring people closer in compassion and responsibility rather than push them apart. He recalled Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei's visit to Kashmir in the years following the Islamic Revolution in the 1980s, and presented Mr. Araghchi with a wooden miniature of the historic Jama Masjid.

The Mirwaiz said South Asia's experience had demonstrated the heavy human cost of prolonged tensions and unresolved disputes, reinforcing the need for sustained engagement and dialogue. He added that India, with its legacy of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of ahimsa, could play a constructive role in encouraging restraint, diplomacy and peaceful engagement at a time of growing international tensions.

Aga Syed Hassan, president of the J&K Anjuman-e-Sharie Shian, reiterated that the people of Kashmir stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and praised what he called the extraordinary resilience demonstrated by Iranians in the face of aggression and pressure. "There is no place for bullying, coercion or unilateralism in today's world," he told the Foreign Minister, stressing the need for a global order based on sovereignty, mutual respect, dialogue, international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The Kashmiri leaders said Mr. Araghchi appreciated the solidarity and sentiments expressed by the people of Kashmir, acknowledging the deep-rooted historical and people-to-people bonds between Kashmir and Iran.

Earlier, the same leaders attended an interaction with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, and took part in an exhibition held in remembrance of children killed during the U.S. attack on Iran earlier this year.