NEW YORK, Apr 22 :Digital advertising trucks displaying sharp messages on Monday moved around New York City and Washington, the capital city, exhorting the United Nations to implement its resolutions, particularly resolution 47, that pledged to the people of Kashmir their right to self-determination.
The highly-visible trucks were rented by the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness forum (WKAF), an advocacy organization, to mark the 77th anniversary of resolution 47, which was co-sponsored by the United States and the United kingdom, and adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on 21 April 1948.
That resolution and other Security Council resolutions, WKAF Secretary-General Ghulam Nabi Fai, said binds both India and Pakistan to respect the outcome of the Kashmiri people’s vote to be conducted under U.N.’s impartial supervision,
“Digital advertising trucks are considered to be the most effective way to spread a message as the brightly lit words on the screens catch attention of the people walking on the streets and those coming in and out of government and commercial buildings and particularly at the United Nations Headquarters,” he said.
“Our objective was to target the audience at the right places, and we were able to control the location where most of the people were able to notice our messages aimed at promoting the cause of Kashmir.”
Fai added, “It is tragic that civilized nations have fallen from their lofty calling: namely, human rights for all mankind. That is a sad commentary on the state of human rights all over the globe, including Indian occupied Kashmir.”
The electronic screens on the trucks carried messages such as: Abuses in Kashmir Continue Till Date: UN Needs to Fulfill the Mandate; Voices of Freedom From Kashmir Strong as Ever: UN Wake Up and Deliver; India Commits Atrocities in Kashmir with Impunity: Mass Graves and Rapes are Crimes Against Humanity; Blinding of Children in Kashmir A Shameful Act: United Nations: It is Time to React; Elections in Kashmir Just a Name: Indian Government Has No Shame; Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolutions the Only Solution; Hold India Accountable for War Crimes in Kashmir; India Stop Land Grabbing in Kashmir; Indian Army Out of Kashmir.
The route of digital truck in Washington included: The National Mall, All federal buildings, including the State Department; the Capitol Hill; Library of Congress; The Washington Monument; The White House; foreign embassies, various Museums; Lincoln Memorial; Washington National Cathedral; the Indian Embassy; the World Bank and IMF.
In New York, the trucks drove around the United Nations headquarters, offices of Indian Mission, Freedom Tower, Battery Park, Central Park, and Times Square.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, WKAF President and Chairman of the Kashmir Diaspora Coalition said April 21 marks one of the most important days in the history of Jammu and Kashmir as it guaranteed the people of Kashmir an unfettered right to self-determination under UN auspices.
Unfortunately, 78 years on, India continues to violate that pledge it made to the people of Kashmir. Peace has been elusive to the region and no such prospects is in sight— All because of India’s evil designs and devious goverrnment policies. Kashmiris were being “mercilessly” oppressed; their lands and natural resources are being stolen and homes being bulldozed.
Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar said that resolution 47 called for holding of a Plebiscite under UN auspices that will decide the future destiny of the region. Notwithstanding the fact that both India and Pakistan welcomed the UN mediation, but the promises made to people of Kashmir were never fulfilled.
Imtiaz Khan added that on August 5, 2019, Indian parliament abrogated article 35A and 370 and revoked the autonomous status of Kashmir, opening the floodgates for fanatic Hindus who with connivance of Indian government to receive domicile certificates along with land grabbed from the local population.
Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir, said that the world powers need to know that unless India accepts the realities, the dispute will fester; and that any settlement must satisfy democratic principles, the rule of law, and security for every inhabitant of Kashmir.
Zarif Khan emphasized that the brutalities of Indian government cannot and should not go unnoticed. It is the responsibility of the Kashmiri diaspora to be the voice of voiceless people in the corridors of powers all over the world.
Sardar Taj Khan, Vice President, Kashmir Mission, USA, said Kashmiris wanted peace but peace with dignity and honour. No country whatsoever has the right to decide the fate of Kashmir, saying that it were the people of Kashmir who were granted the right to determine the political future.
Comrade Shahid, Secretary-General of the Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum underscored the role the right of self-determination in resolving long-running disputes and bringing freedom to the occupied people. “Too often,” Comrade Shahid said, “the international community closes its eyes to the brutal reality of Kashmir because of India’s hegemony in South Asia and its potentially attractive consumer market.”
Raja Mukhtar, a leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, North America, condemned the ban in occupied Kashmir on civil society and private NGO’s, including JKLF and restrictions on freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly. He demanded the release of all political prisoners, including the most recognizable leader, Yasin Malik.
Advocate Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalvi, Secretary-General of the Kashmir Mission, USA, said that the resolution of Kashmir issue could have enabled both Pakistan and India to spend their resources more on the development of their people rather than on defense expenditures. He expressed his unconditional moral support to the people of Kashmir for a just and peaceful solution to the long-standing dispute. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brethren.”
Sardar Sawar Khan, former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, said that he firmly believes that the only way to achieve a peaceful and lasting solution to the Kashmir crisis in through dialogue and negotiations. There can be no solution to the conflict without the participation of the leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Sawar Khan warned the nuclear danger in South Asia will never recede until Kashmiris receive the justice and political liberty promised by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions providing for a free and fair self‑determination vote.
Speaking at the event, Sardar Zubair Khan, representative of Voice of Justice in Kashmir, emphasized that the unresolved conflict over Kashmir threatens the international peace and security of the world.
Shakeel Anjum added that the people of Kashmir believe that human rights lose value when the enforcement is selective.
Raja Liaqat Kiyani, President of the Kashmir House, Washington, said that the United States must understand that Kashmiris crave only what every American covets: human rights, democratic values, peace and justice.
Raja Liaquat Kiyani, a Kashmiri activist, added that India has defied United Nations Security Council resolutions for more than 78years because she knows Kashmiris will never vote in her favour. It was time for Pakistan and India to enter into a dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute, he said.
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