'What do Kashmiris want: Stay with India or Pak?'

Aryan M is only in class 7 at Cambridge School but he wanted to know the answer to an explosive question about Kashmir. “What do the people of Kashmir want to do? Be with India or Pakistan?” he asked at the inauguration of the Cottons Model United Nations on Thursday.

He posed this question to Syed Ata Hasnain, a retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army, who was chief guest on the occasion. Not only Hasnain, but the audience too admired the question. “When I was your age I did not even know where Kashmir was,” he quipped. “Not too many people are happy in Kashmir. Separatism is there and there is a history of militarism. However, Kashmiris should not be alienated. Everything should be done to integrate it with mainland India.” Delegates from 52 schools are taking part in the fifth edition of Cottons Model United Nations, being organised by the Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, that will go on till Saturday. As is characteristic of Model UN conferences, participants place themselves in committees and assigned countries and debate .

Delegates from a school in Palestine are also taking part. Delegates will be part of such committees as UN Peace Building Task Force, UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Criminal Organisation to name a few and will deliberate on a number of topics. Reemasarahan, a student at Palestine’s ENCJHL school, who will participate in the conference, said: “We will speak about Syrian refugees, devastation in Nepal due to the massive earthquake, to name a few.”

Salameh Bisharah, administrator of the same school who accompanied the student’s delegation, said: “We arrived here two days ago and have been doing sightseeing. It’s been a good experience coming here and we are excited about participating in the conference.”