New York: Raising vociferous anti-India slogans and carrying placards, hundreds of Kashmiri and international community members staged a demonstration in front of the United Nations building to impress upon the World Body to implements its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
A group of Sikhs also joined the rally in New York which demanded self-determination for the Kashmiris as well as Sikhs. All Kashmiri parties based in New York and the surrounding areas came together to voice their outrage over the surge in killings in occupied Kashmir since July 8, this year.
The demonstrators carried photographs of Kashmiri youth injured by pellets and condemned the use of brutal force against peaceful demonstrators in the occupied territory.
“India Out of Kashmir”, “We Want Freedom From India”, Wake Up, Wake Up – UN”, “Kashmir: Nuclear Flashpoint” and “India: End Bloodshed” were some of the placards the protesters were holding.
Speakers at the rally strongly condemned the killing spree in occupied Kashmir and called upon the world powers and the United Nations to use their influence on India to stop the genocide of Kashmiris. “They also voiced grave concern over the shutdown of media offices in Kashmir and cutting off all communication links with the territory, saying it was a grave violation of human rights and freedom of information,” media reports said.
The speakers that included prominent Kashmiri leaders like Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Capt (retd) Shaheen Butt and Sardar Sawar Khan asked the United Nations to allow the Kashmiri people to decide their future by themselves to ensure durable peace and stability in the South Asian region.
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry said that the Kashmiri struggle had reached a decisive moment. He called for greater unity among the ranks of Kashmiri people.
“There can be no peace in the region without the resolution of Kashmir dispute,” Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai said. “The most poignant aspect of the situation is the acute suffering of the whole population caused by indefinite curfew in disregard of normal life as well as detention of the Kashmiri leadership,” he said. “This is a situation without precedent in South Asian subcontinent and few parallels in the whole world.”