PARLIAMENTARIANS TERM IT AS QUESTION MARK BEFORE WORLD,
NEW YORK/Islamabad_ A large number of Kashmiri-Americans staged a demonstration in front of United Nations Headquarters Monday to protest India’s decision to convene a meeting of G20 countries’ representatives in occupied Kashmir, with prominent speakers asserting that the move was aimed at engineering a facade of normalcy in the restive UN-recognized disputed territory.
Rented digital trucks flashing a wide range of messages, including the right of Kashmiri people’s to self-determination, amplified the protestors outrage at the tourism meeting, the first such gathering since India unilaterally brought Kashmir under direct control in August 2019.
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.
Earlier,
The Parliamentarians on Monday castigated the global community for its silence on India’s failed attempt to hold the G20 moot in the disputed territory of Srinagar of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and termed it as a question mark on its botched conscience.
Talking to APP, MNA Romina Khurshid Alam of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the foreign minister was leading the diplomacy on Kashmir Issue and all actions and policy decisions taken in this regard would be visible before the nation.
As a parliamentarian, she believed that the country should let India strengthen its ambitions rather than expose its nefarious designs in the region before the world.
“We should strengthen our own policies and keep apprising the world from time to time on India’s massive human rights violations and tyrannies unleashed on innocent Kashmiris,” Alam said.
She underlined that the country had reinforced its coalitions and should further boost its alliances in the region to support Kashmir Cause. “The day is not far when the region would unite and the Kashmir issue would be resolved,” she added.
Federal Minister for Overseas and Human Resource Development, Sajid Hussain Turi said the foreign minister was already in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
“We support the Kashmiris’ ideology and cause. Three countries have boycotted the G20 Summit in Srinagar which is a clear defeat of India,” he added.
He regretted that the country was not giving the proper message to India that the violence being unleashed on innocent Kashmiris and such unilateral decisions were not acceptable.
“India has failed due to the boycott of many members of the G20 which is a shame for India and the world has realized what India is doing in IIOJK,” he said.
Senator Bahramand Khan Tungi of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPPP) said Narendra Modi did an abortive attempt to hold G20 Summit but the foreign minister’s efforts on active diplomacy helped avert it as many major member countries abstained from registration for the moot.
The G20 summit failure in IIOJK would have a constructive role of the foreign minister and Modi would fail to play its role in the moot’s conduct, he said.
MNA, Nawabazada Iftakhar Khan Babar of PPPP said many countries like China, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt and Turkiye among others have refused to participate in the G20 Summit in Srinagar whereas those who were attending had limited their delegations.
He added that this was the great success of the foreign minister and the entire nation. The world got the message that India was isolated by the world community in its unilateral intervention in the IIOJK, he added.
Parliamentary Secretary for Railways, Kiran Imran Dar said Kashmir was equally dear to all Pakistanis like Kashmiris. “Pakistan took a stand against India at every forum and supported Kashmir cause. India failed despite holding G20 Summit and it was due to the sacrifices of the Kashmiris who shed their blood for their right to self-determination,” she added.
MNA, Nasir Khan Musazai of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said he demanded the UN that why it had neglected the disputed status of the IIOJK while participating in the G20 summit.
“The world human rights champions did not realize that they were going to a disputed land and two countries since 1948 fought wars on this issue. The powerful countries what they want it is just and those who are poor and weak or Muslim states are invaded under the garb of human rights violations and deny even just political rights,” he said.
MNA Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Muttahida Majlise-e-Amal Pakistan (MMAP) said the Jammat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) condemned and opposed the G-20 Srinagar Summit. “We (JI) had submitted a resolution but were not tabled at the floor of the house as we were told that it had been postponed but it was not the case.”
The G20 IIOJK session was illegitimate and its condemnation was imperative, he added.
MNA, Dr Darshan of PML-N said the Indian act of G20 summit in IIOJK was based on their malicious intentions and he clearly condemned that Indian move in IIOJK.
“This is also part of the UN Resolutions and India could not hold it but they have opted it as a tool of harassment against Kashmiris.”
