Standing in Solidarity with Kashmiris

F.P. Report

WASHINGTON DC: Kashmiri American Welfare Association hosted a Webinar entitled “Standing in Solidarity with Kashmiris” today to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day. President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan; Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States participated in the event.

Other participants include: Director Kashmiri American Welfare Association, Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan; Political Analyst and Human Rights Activist, Helene Sejlet, Representative Kashmir Society, Rizwan Kadir and Special Assistant to the Dean Johns Hopkins SAIS and Human Rights Activist, Danielle Khan.

Giving an overview of the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), President AJ&K Sardar Masood Khan said that IIOJK had become a hotspot of Islamophobia, and Kashmiris were facing annihilation and genocide. Rape and targeted molestation of women by occupation forces was being used as a tool to intimidate the population.

The BJP government was bringing millions of Hindus to the occupied territory to change its demography in contravention of the international law and Geneva Convention. He urged the Biden Administration to activate the UN to resolve the conflict, which was eroding peace and security of the region.

In his remarks, the Ambassador apprised the audience of the unabated atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces in IIOJK. He said that nearly one million Indian armed occupation forces were violating the fundamental rights of innocent and unarmed Kashmiris at a scale unparalleled in modern times.

He called upon the international community, in particular the new US Administration to play its due role in bringing an end to the humanitarian crisis and a peaceful and just resolution of the political dispute, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Pakistan on its part will continue to raise its voice for the Kashmiris at every platform and every occasion, the Ambassador added.

Expressing complete solidarity with the Kashmiri people, the other speakers strongly condemned the gross human rights violations of the Kashmiri people being committed by Indian occupation forces. They demanded that India should immediately repeal draconian laws, end the military siege, stop demographic changes in the occupied region, lift communication blockade and release all political prisoners in IIOJK. They also said that it was about time that the international community called out the BJP government’s discriminatory laws against Muslims.

Terming it an international issue, the speakers unanimously refuted Indian narrative of Kashmir being an internal matter and pledged to continue to raise their voice for the basic human rights of the Kashmiris. They also urged India to allow access to humanitarian organizations to IIOJK, as was done by Pakistan in case of AJK.