NEW YORK: A large gathering of Kashmiri-Americans protested India’s decision to hold a meeting of the G20 countries’ representatives in occupied Kashmir on Monday. Prominent speakers claimed that the action was intended to create the appearance of normalcy in the unrest-ridden UN-recognized disputed territory. Rental digital trucks amplified the outrage of the protesters at the tourism meeting, the first such event since India unilaterally took direct control of Kashmir in August 2019. The trucks flashed a variety of messages, including the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination.
The messages included, “G20 risks legitimizing India’s illegal occupation of Kashmir”, “G20 in Kashmir violates UN resolutions”, “G20 in occupied Kashmir enables genocide”, “Say NO to G20 in Kashmir”, ”Modi: face of Fascism”, “ “End the Occupation: Free Kashmir”, “Demilitarize Kashmir”, “India: Release All Political Prisoners.”
A memorandum was submitted to the office of UN Secretary-General, demanding among other issues, the unconditional release of human rights defenders and political prisoners, including Khurram Parvez, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarrat Aalam, Aaasia Andrabi and journalists like Irfan Mehraj, Asif Sultan, Sajjad Gul, Fahad Shah, Gowhar Gilani.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the G20 meeting in
Kashmir contravened more than 16 resolutions, which were agreed by both India and Pakistan.
By holding the G20 meeting in Kashmir, Fai said that India intended to use the presence the representatives of the G20 countries as some kind of a seal of approval on the “reckless decision” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s decision to annex Kashmir in violation of international law and UNSC resolutions.
He appealed to the G20 countries to listen to Professor Fernand de Vareness, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, who had warned the G20 countries that India was seeking to “normalize what some have described as a military occupation.” In this regard, Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also voiced concern in the UN Human Rights Council over the human rights situation in the Kashmir region
Sardar Sawar Khan, former Member of the Kashmir Council and the main organizer of the peaceful protest hoped that the G20 countries, as signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva convention, and other International Human Rights instruments will adopt a definitive pro-people stance. The credibility of G20 countries is on the line, he said, urging them to stand firm and refuse to be weaponized in the disempowerment and subjugation of a hapless people.
Other speakers at the rally in which anti-India slogans were raised included, Raja Mukhtar of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front; Sardar Zarif Khan, Secretary-General of the Kashmir American Welfare Association; Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalvi, a Representative of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Azad Kashmir; and Kashmiri activists like Raja Razzak, Mirza Farooq, Sardar Sajid Sawar, Choudhary Muhammad Ishaq, Zahid Shahbaz, Sardar Mehmood, Ms. Aita Shahnaz and Choudhary Rashid Masud.
