“Global Injustice” Session Spotlights Kashmir, Palestine and Hindutva: Dr Fai
Edison, New jersey: An informative and educational session on “Global Injustice” was organized at the ICNA-Mid-Atlantic Convention held at the Sheraton Hotel, Edison, New Jersey, on November 5, 2022.
The topic spotlighted injustices in Kashmir, Palestine, and on Indian minorities. Speakers included Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, ‘World Forum for Peace & Justice’; Dr Osama Abu-Irshad, a well-known human rights activist and National Director American Muslims for Palestine; and Dr Zahid Bukhari, Executive Director, ICNA/Council on Social Justice.
In his speech on the occasion, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai observed that the conspiracy of silence over gross affronts to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Indian occupied Kashmir – an occupation which itself violates still binding Security Council resolutions dictating a self-determination there under international and impartial supervision – is worrisome. The muteness of world powers has emboldened India to a chilling campaign of human rights atrocities against innocent Kashmiris. The 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces operate outside the rule of law under the protective umbrella of an Indian immunity statute. Egregious human rights violations are commonplace: involuntary disappearances, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, plunder, abductions, mutilations, arbitrary detentions, and discovery of over 4,000 mass graves in Kupwara district alone.
It is one thing to deny a people their right to freedom of speech and the freedom to vote. It is another thing to deny them the right to live. Fai added that there is no freedom in Kashmir, only death, destruction, and depression.
He warned that if India or Pakistan or any other power would like to bring pressure on the people of Kashmir to capitulate, or to agree to any terms which will compromise their freedom, then any peace process is foredoomed. The people of Kashmir wish to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind on that score.
Fai suggested that the breaking of the impasse over Kashmir between India and Pakistan would be greatly facilitated by the presence of a facilitator, a person of an international standing, like Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, who would define the obligations of the parties under the agreements concluded between them, spell out the contentious issues and the conflicting positions, and remove the confusion about what needs to be done to narrow the gap. - gnfai2003@yahoo.com
