Mobile Billboard Trucks in Washington & New York Light up Messages Demanding Right to Self-Determination in Kashmir
Washington, DC: The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), a Washington-based advocacy body, displayed razor-sharp messages on mobile billboard trucks in Washington and New York, calling on the United Nations to fulfill its pledge to the people of Jammu & Kashmir – right to self-determination.
The electronic screens on the mobile digital trucks carried messages such as "UN obligated to implement its resolutions on Kashmir;” “Land grab operation in Kashmir is economic terrorism”; “Freedom for all: Freedom for Kashmir”; ”Stop Indian Military & Demographic Terrorism in Kashmir”; “Indian Occupied Kashmir: Most Densely Militarized Settler Colony”; “Hold India Accountable for War Crimes in Kashmir”; etc.
“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,” said Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice.”
The route of digital trucks in Washington included: 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. And in New York, The United Nations headquarters, offices of various UN Missions, Freedom Tower, Indian Mission; Battery Park, Central Park, Times Square, etc.
Dr Ghulam N. Mir, Chairman, Kashmir Diaspora Coalition (KDC) and President, World Kashmir Awareness Forum said we stand in solidarity with Kashmiris across the globe in protests and rallies today on the 74th year of Kashmir’s Right to Self-Determination Day, demanding implementation of the resolution that was adopted on January 5, 1949. That resolution mandates a free and unfettered plebiscite in Kashmir. To highlight and draw attention of the freedom-loving people particularly in the United States, WKAF rented Digital Mobile Billboard Trucks in New York and Washington DC. The denial of the right to self-determination, Dr Mir added, has brought both India and Pakistan to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.
“Our objective was to target the policy makers in Washington and New York as well as the passersby to let them know that crimes against humanity are being committed in the so-called largest democracy – India - and that the Biden Administration is giving preferential treatment to India because of its commercial interests,” Dr Mir said.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai said that it was on January 5, 1949, when the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) worked out the concrete terms of settlement in close and continuous consultation with both India and Pakistan. As both governments formally signified their acceptance of the commission’s proposals, they constituted an international agreement as binding as a treaty. A ceasefire was immediately enforced. The Commission then started negotiations to draw up a plan for the withdrawal of Indian and Pakistan armies from the State in a manner and sequence that would not cause disadvantage to either side or imperil the freedom of the plebiscite.
Dr Imtiaz Khan, Professor at George Washington University Medical Center said, “Today on January 5, 2023, people of Indian occupied Kashmir commemorate the passing of UN resolution on this date in the year 1949. In this resolution it was agreed upon that the question of accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite. Subsequently, the UN Security Council reiterated the right of self-determination of Kashmiris in various resolutions, including of 1951 and 1957. An inordinate delay in implementing the UN resolutions on Kashmir, repeated farcical sham elections in the State as well as the wave of democracy, which swept the globe in 1980s, brought the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir on the streets, agitating for their right of self-determination.
Sardar Zarif Khan, main organizer of the event, said that today the Government of India has deployed over 900,000 military and paramilitary forces in Kashmir, making it the largest militarized zone in the world. Every independent human rights organization that has surveyed the Kashmiri landscape has expressed horror and outrage at the human rights inferno created by India. Sardar Zarif added that Kashmir cries for international intervention and we, the diaspora, can make it happen provided we realize our responsibilities and be united.
Sardar Zubair Khan co-organizer of the event, said that the deplorable situation in Kashmir is unacceptable. Kashmir is the most dangerous nuclear hotspot on the planet. It has already sparked two wars between two nations, and a third would be a global catastrophe." Zubair Khan added that Kashmir was not an integral part of any country and yet we have the failure of the realization of the expression of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.
Sardar Taj Khan, organizer of the event in New York, called upon the United Nations Secretary General to impress upon the parties concerned to create an atmosphere for a free and impartial plebiscite in Kashmir that will guarantee peace and prosperity in the whole region of South Asia. - gnfai2003@yahoo.com
www.kashmirawareness.org
