The World Kashmir Awareness Forum, (WKAF), a Washington-based advocacy body, rented mobile digital advertising trucks that were displaying around the New York city sharp messages calling on the United Nations to implement its resolutions pledging to the people of Jammu & Kashmir their right to self-determination, as they drove around the historic landmarks of Manhattan.
The digital led trucks were operational today, on January 5, 2024, between 11.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. Its route included: the United Nations headquarters, Times Square; Freedom Tower; Battery Park; Central Park; Indian Mission; Indian Consulate; and 23rd Streets to 59 Streets between First Avenue to 9th Avenue.
The electronic screens on the trucks carried messages such as: “From Kashmir to Palestine: Occupation is the Crime”; “Supreme Court Decision is a Delusion :Kashmir Needs a Resolution”: Indian Forces on Killing Spree: Kashmir Needs to be Set Free”; “Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolution only Solution”; “Indian Brutality in Kashmir Galore: World Community Cannot Ignore”; “Kashmir Facing Existential Threat: United States Needs to Act”; “Settler Colonialism and Demographic Alterations: India Shreds UN Resolutions”; “Indian judiciary a False Glitter: Manipulated by Hindutva Litter”; etc.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary general, WKAF said that the renting of mobile digital led trucks has proven very effective because we were able to reach out to tens of thousands of people within a short span of time.
Dr. Fai added that “The status of Jammu and Kashmir has been in dispute between India and Pakistan since both became independent in 1947. A U.N. Commission obtained acceptance on January 5, 1949, by both parties of a peace plan involving a cease fire, demilitarisation of the state and a plebiscite under the supervision of a U.N. appointed administrator. The Security Council urged that the people of Kashmir will have right of self-determination to decide the future status of their homeland. The resolution was negotiated with both India and Pakistan and accepted by all five members of the Commission, Argentina, Belgium, Columbia, Czechoslovakia and the United States. The cease-fire took effect accordingly, but the plan bogged down when India balked at implementing the demilitarisation phase, which envisioned a synchronised withdrawal by the forces of both India & Pakistan. The situation lapsed into a stalemate.”
Fai emphasised, in spite of that, the Kashmir dispute has an international dimension because it has the sanctity of the UN Charter and UN Security Council resolutions and has become a big hurdle or obstacle in the growth and stability of both India and Pakistan. The unresolved conflict over Kashmir threatens the international peace and security of the world. It is far past time for the UN to take forceful action in order to restore the faith of common people that it is an agency that can live up to its bold charter and mission of bringing peace and stability to the world.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President WKAF and Chairman, Kashmir Diaspora Coalition (KDC) said that the ongoing and unrelenting public resentment in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir may show a deceptive calm on the surface given the inhumane level of atrocities, deaths and imprisonments of political leaders, human rights activists, and journalists by the largest illegitimate Indian military occupation. This dehumanisation has gone on for over 76 years. Numerous UN Security Council Resolutions starting with Resolution 47 of April 21, 1947, which mandated that the Kashmiris should have the right to exercise their right to self-determination under UN supervision.
India arrogantly has disregarded the UN mandates and continued to trample over the rights of millions of people of the erstwhile state of J&K.
Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Professor at George Washington University Medical Center said that on January 5, 1949, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) guaranteed the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their future through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite.’ Thus, January 5, marks a high point in the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their inalienable right to self-determination. However, this resolution was never implemented, and the inhabitants of the occupied land continue to suffer at the hands of tyrannical Indian forces who are facilitated by draconian laws like TADA, UAPA, and APSA that provides them impunity to kill, rape and massacre.
Dr. Khan added that it may not be imprudent to imply that over the years dispensation of the justice and protection of human rights by the UN are linked to economic prowess of the aggressee and dependent on the financial interests of world powers. If the aggressor offers ample financial opportunities to major powers, human right violations and throttling of voices of freedom are conveniently ignored. The time is opportune for UN to get engaged with this issue, prevail upon India to implement the resolutions and provide succor to the people of Kashmir. Doing so will provide glimmer of hope not only to Kashmiris but to other oppressed people of world, especially when the clouds of war are hovering across the continents and rumblings of major conflicts are clearly audible.
Raja Mukhtar, senior leader of JKLF, North America appealed to the Secretary General of the UN to persuade Government of India to rescind newly enacted Domicile Law which violates the Geneva Convention; and to release all political prisoners unconditionally, including Muhmmad Yasin Malik, the most recognizable leader of Kashmir, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Alam, Aaasia Andrabi, Khurram Parvez, and others.
Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalvi of Secretary General, Kashmir Mission reiterated that the people of Jammu & Kashmir were assured by the United Nations that they would be given the right of self-determination to decide their future by a free and unfettered vote. And to this day, this assurance has yet to be honored.
Sardar Sajid Sawar, youth leader said that the resolution of Kashmir issue could have enabled both Pakistan and India to spend their finite resources more on the development of their people rather than on defense expenditure. He remains convinced that the people of Jammu and Kashmir constitute the principal stakeholders and should be an integral component of any future peace process along with India and Pakistan.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
The writer is the Secretary General of the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum. He can be reached at gnfai2003@yahoo.com
