NEW YORK, Aug 04 (APP): Kashmiri-American men, women and children — along with their supporters — Sunday staged a rally at New York’s iconic Times Square, to reject India’s settler colonialism in occupied Kashmir and to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
The rally, which marked the sixth anniversary of India’s revocation of the special status of the disputed Kashmir region, was jointly organized by Kashmiri-American community of New York metropolitan area.
The protestors raised vociferous anti-India slogans and waved banners and placards that denounced widespread human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.
The placards read: “Abrogation of article 370 is a joke: Kashmir needs to be set free from Indian yoke”; “Ceasefire Without Addressing Kashmir Problem Cannot Sustain: Pressure on India for Negotiations Should Remain”: “End Indian Colonization of Kashmir”; “End the Occupation: Free Kashmir”; “Ethnic cleansing and demographic changes are shame: Indian government should accept the blame”; “Freedom of Kashmir only Solution: Enslavement Not an Option”; “India – Release all political prisoners unconditionally”; “India Involved in Genocide: Kashmiris Demand Plebiscite”; “India Stop Land Grabbing in Kashmir” and “India: Decolonize Kashmir.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace and Justice, said that the abrogation of article 370 and 35A of Indian Constitution was an “act of aggression” and an assault on the State people’s rights — as also contravening the UN resolution prohibiting any unilateral action to change the status of of the disputed region.
“Since, August 5, 2019, the Indian government, in order to crush any resistance to its illegal occupation, has instituted new draconian measures,” Dr. Fai said. “In a ruthless campaign they imprisoned politicians, journalists, and civil society members, like, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam, Aasia Andrabi and others to intimidate and suppress any form of dissent”.
Raja Mukhtar, Spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and thr main organizer of the rally, spoke about the human right tragedy in Indian occupied Kashmir. “Killings of youth and molestation of women continues without let up. Since August 5, 2019 India is pursuing the policy to change the demography of the Kashmir. The ultimate objective is to deprive people of their livelihood, convert Muslim majority into Hindu majority and push the local population to ghettos.”
Raja Mukhtar demanded the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners, Including Mohammad Yasin Malik.
Sardar Taj Khan, Senior Vice Chairman, Kashmir Mission, USA and Co-organizer of the rally said that the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom is by no definition a terrorist movement. “It is a movement for self-determination, inspired by a spirit for freedom and it has it legitimacy in the UN Security Council resolutions.”
Arif Naveed, a retired major, Chowdhary Maqbool Ahmed Gujjar, member of the Azad Kashmir Assembly, Ms. Safura Wasim, a well-known social worker, Advocate Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalevi, General Secretary of the Kashmir Mission, USA, Sardar Sajid Sawar, young human rights activist, Raja Bashir Sahib, a Kashmiri activist, Ataul Zafar, a young Kashmiri American human rights advocate; Saghir Khan, President of the Kashmiri American Alliance, Shahid Comrade, Secretary General of the Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum were among those who addressed the rally and called for upholding the Kashmiris right to self-determination.
