Iranian Foreign Minister holds separate meeting with Kashmiri leaders; Mirwaiz bats for dialogue over war

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, PDP MLA Muntazir Mehdi, Anjuman Sharie Shian, Jammu and Kashmir Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi, All J-K Shia Association president Imran Reza Ansari and others during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a separate meeting with senior Kashmiri religious leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Aga Syed Hassan, Muntazir Mehdi and Molvi Imran Raza Ansari, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on Saturday (September 12, 2026).The Kashmiri leaders pitched for “diplomacy over war as a means to resolve issues”.Iranian official news agency, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), also released photographs of the meeting. “A delegation of Indian clerics and religious leaders held a meeting with the Foreign Minister on the margins of the BRICS summit,” IRNA said.A spokesman of the Mirwaiz said the religious leaders “exchanged views with Mr. Araghchi on the grave situation confronting the region”. The leaders called for “safeguarding unity within the Muslim Ummah”. The delegation also conveyed solidarity with the people of Iran and expressed deep concern over the loss of innocent lives, destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the “climate of fear and insecurity created by war”, said the spokesman.The Kashmir leaders, according to the spokesman, also referred to the “continuing devastation in Palestine and 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, according to the statement.The Mirwaiz also warned that the present conflicts “must not be allowed to deepen sectarian divisions within the Muslim world”. “The suffering of people in Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere should bring us closer in compassion and responsibility, not push us further apart,” said the Mirwaiz, as he mentioned Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei’s visit to Kashmir in the years following the Islamic Revolution in the 1980s. The Mirwaiz gifted Mr. Araghchi 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 and “had reinforced the need for sustained engagement and dialogue”.“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. The grave challenges facing our world cannot be settled through ever-widening wars. Confrontation will only aggravate them. Human dignity has no sect or nationality, and every innocent life is precious. We must remain on the right side of history — on the side of justice, humanity and peace,” said the Mirwaiz.J&K Anjuman-e-Sharie Shian president Aga Syed Hassan reiterated that the people of Kashmir stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and praised the “extraordinary resilience demonstrated by the Iranian people in the face of aggression and pressure.”“There is no place for bullying, coercion or unilateralism in today’s world,” Mr. Hassan told the Foreign Minister and stressed the need for a global order based on sovereignty, mutual respect, dialogue, international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes. “Kashmiris stand for a bully-free world—one founded on sovereignty, mutual respect, dialogue, international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes,” Mr. Hassan told Mr. Araghchi. The Kashmir leaders said the Iranian Foreign Minister 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, these leaders had also attended an interaction with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi and participated in an exhibition held in remembrance of children killed during the U.S. attack on Iran earlier this year. Published - September 13, 2026 06:17 pm IST