NEW YORK: Kashmiris from across the U.S. and their supporters Saturday staged a big, boisterous demonstration in front of the U.N. building to renew their call on the world body to implement its pledge for their exercise of the right of self-determination, as India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, addressed the General Assembly.
Led by Azad Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, they denounced India’s “illegal” measures of 5 August 2019 that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, amid vociferous anti-India slogans and waving of placards,
Their placards read: “India: Honour UN Resolutions”, “Freedom for all, Freedom for Kashmir”, “Indian Forces: Out of Kashmir”, “Demilitarize Kashmir”, “UN: Wake UP”, “No Justice, No Peace”, “We Demand Justice for Yasin Malik”; “India: Release All Political Prisoners.”
A large number of Sikhs joined the rally, with Dr. Amarjit Singh, the head of Washington-based Khalistan Affairs Center, expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris struggle for freedom from India.
“We stand with you against our common enemy,” he told the cheering crowd.
Speakers at the rally — including President Sultan Chaudhry and Kashmiri activists Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai and Sardar Sawar Khan, condemned the Indian government’s attempts at changing the demographic status of Jammu & Kashmir by introducing politically motivated laws. They also condemned the life imprisonment handed down by an Indian special court in New Delhi to Muhammad Yasin Malik, one of the most prominent leaders of Kashmir, and Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
