A large number of Kashmiri Americans and their supporters and friends staged a protest demonstration in front of the Indian embassy in Washington, DC. On the occasion President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir at which Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry and other speakers drew the attention of the Biden administration to the grave human rights situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The participants, who came from various US states, including Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, etc., waved placards reading: Indian Forces: Out of Kashmir Stop Killing in Kashmir Demilitarize Kashmir U.N. Implement Resolutions on Kashmir US Can Stop Genocide in Kashmir, Wake Up Wake Up: UN Wake Up. Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry warned that the deadly silence of the world powers over gruesome human rights abuses by the occupation forces in Kashmir had given India a virtual license to kill innocent Kashmiris.

The government of India has to stop viewing Kashmir from the prism of Pakistan, he added. Pointing out that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, tortured, jailed, and are missing, Barrister said that no struggle of such magnitude could be sponsored by an external party. Barrister warned that Kashmir is facing the worst kind of oppression unleashed by the Indian army. Innocent people are being killed, maimed, blinded, incarcerated, tortured and humiliated by the occupational forces, he lamented. He said India is using its military might to crush the peaceful resistance movement of Kashmir and this all is being done with impunity. Barrister Sultan added that Kashmiris are the real sufferers and unless they are taken on board no process, whether track one or track two can make any headway.

He underlined that it was imperative that self-determination be granted to the people of Kashmir to maintain peace and stability in the region. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Mir, President, World Kashmir Awareness Forum Chairman, newly constituted Kashmir Diaspora Coalition", said, We are honored to have the Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry among us on this sad day to join us on Kashmir Black Day. He said 75 years ago, on this day without any justification or provocation India invaded Jammu and Kashmir. "October 27 remains etched in our memory and our conscience. It was the day India decimated our dreams of a free nation. The savage uncalled-for invasion was to become a long national nightmare for millions of Kashmiris, he added. Dr Mir said Kashmiris are victims of multiple periods of genocide starting in 1947 and 1948 and multiple genocides in 1990s. Now Kashmir, he said, is a case of full-fledged ethnic cleansing, demographic change, and settler-colonialism.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP