MUNA event calls for tripartite talks to resolve UN-recognized Kashmir dispute
Philadelphia: Speakers at the national convention of the Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA) in Philadelphia have stressed that tripartite negotiations in line with between India, Pakistan and the genuine leadership of Jammu and Kashmir are the only way to achieve a just and lasting settlement of the UN-recognized Kashmir dispute.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the remarks came during a special session on Kashmir titled “Echoes of Struggle: Kashmir’s Parallels in American Justice”, attended by over 25,000 people at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Dr Zahid Bukhari, a leading Muslim scholar on US foreign policy, said the struggle for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination belongs in the same category as the women’s suffrage movement, the Black civil rights struggle in the US, the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa, and the ongoing movement against Israeli genocide in Gaza. He urged American Muslims to create awareness through mosques, local media, social media platforms, and partnerships with other faith-based and civil rights organisations to highlight the plight of Kashmiris.
Dr Bukhari said the Modi regime is implementing a Nazi-inspired Hindutva ideology in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, using Israeli-style tactics to oppress, kill, and change the region’s demography. He stressed that elected representatives at all levels in the US must be told that tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and the true representatives of the Kashmiri people are the only path to peace.
Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice, said India’s military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir has inflicted more than 100,000 deaths and countless human rights violations. Despite decades of tyranny, he emphasized, Kashmiris will never give up their right to be free.
Dr Fai asserted that the dispute must be settled according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people as pledged in UN resolutions. He called for the reversal of India’s domicile laws, an end to demographic engineering, the deployment of UN human rights observers, and India’s accountability under international law.
“For seventy-eight years, Kashmiris have waited for justice. They cannot be asked to wait seventy-eight more,” Dr Fai warned, adding that the time to act is now to ensure freedom, dignity, and peace for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The MUNA convention, which began on August 8, drew over 25,000 attendees from across the United States. Arman Chowdhury, Convener of the MUNA Convention, and Erik Martin Dilan, Member of Assembly from Kings County, New York, also addressed the event.
The session was moderated by young Muslim scholar Huzifa Choudhary from Detroit.
