The international community must play its role in bringing an end to the brutality in Indian Occupied Kashmir – this was the consensus of a seminar entitled “Kashmir: The Seventy Years’ Struggle”, held at the Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC earlier today to mark Kashmir Black Day (October 27).
In his remarks, Amb. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry called upon the international community to take notice of the human rights violations perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in Jammu & Kashmir. He said the events of the last fifteen months, ever since the death of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani, have proven that the spirit and determination of the Kashmiris remains unflinching in the face of Indian brutality. He assured the Kashmiri community that Pakistan will continue to lend moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmir at all international fora.
Kashmiri American Committee Secretary General Sardar Zulfiqar Khan, former member Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council Sardar Sawaar Khan and George Washington University professor Dr. Imtiaz Khan also spoke on the occasion. Each speaker highlighted the plight of the innocent Kashmiris, particularly women and children, who continue to face the wrath of Indian atrocities since the last seventy years. They called upon human rights organizations to raise their voice against India’s barbaric acts in the Kashmir Valley. The Kashmiri representatives reaffirmed the resolve of the Muslims of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir to continue their struggle for freedom from Indian oppression.
Highlighting the historical context of the Jammu & Kashmir Dispute, two distinguished former diplomats, Amb. Touqir Hussain and former Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan drew the attention of the international community to numerous UN Security Council resolutions under which the people of Kashmir have been promised the right to self-determination through a UN-mandated plebiscite. The two speakers also emphasized that both governments in India and Pakistan need to resume dialogue to arrive at a political solution that is satisfactory to the Kashmiri people.
Each year, October 27 is marked by Kashmiris around the world as Kashmir Black Day, as it was on this day in 1947 that Indian forces landed in Jammu and Kashmir and occupied it.
November 05 , 2017
Washington D.C
