Kashmiri Americans protest during Indian FM’s speech to UNGA
New York: Hundreds of people of Kashmiri American communities travelling from across the states staged an impressive demonstration at the United Nations headquarters in New York during the speech of Dr S. Jaishankar, the foreign minister of India, to the General Assembly.
According to Kashmir Media Service, The rally was jointly sponsored by Kashmiri American Communities of New York and Washington Metropolitan areas.
Their powerful presence sent one message loud and clear to the United Nations: the people of Kashmir are still living under occupation — despite the promise you made 78 years ago to let them decide their destiny in an internationally supervised referendum.
Waving banners and shouting slogans, their demands displaced on the placards and banners carried the messages: “Release Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam, Aasiya Andrabi and other political prisoners”; “Hold India accountable for war crimes”; “Stop Demographic terrorism in Kashmir”; “India criminalizes press freedom in Kashmir”; “End Indian colonization in Kashmir”; “Implement UN resolution on Kashmir”; “Indian army out of Kashmir.”
Dr Ghulam Nabi Mir, President, World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), said Kashmir is the largest and the oldest foreign occupation, and India the oldest remaining foreign occupier of the world.
Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace and Justice, said for seventy-eight years the people of Kashmir have cried for justice, their voices echoing in the halls of the United Nations but never answered.
He said the United Nations was formed to defend the oppressed, and today Kashmir is its greatest test. Even world powers now admit that silence and failed talks cannot heal this wound, he said, adding Kashmir is not a forgotten dispute, it is the bleeding conscience of humanity, and the measure of our unity.
Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar said, India, initially, explicitly accepted the Security Council resolutions mandating a free and impartial plebiscite in Kashmir under the auspices of the United Nations, it soon reneged on its own obligation realizing that the people of Kashmir would vote against India in an unfettered plebiscite.
He added that the militarization of the state not only had worsened the psycho-traumatic situation but it was taking a toll on the state economy, agriculture and production of the state by converting more and more areas into cantonments.
Sardar Imtiaz Khan, President of JKLF, North America, appealed to the world leaders to persuade India to release all political prisoners, including Mohammad Yasin Malik who is facing a life and death situation in the notorious Tihar Jail of New Delhi, India.
Sardar Taj Khan, Senior Vice Chairman, Kashmir Mission, USA, said the brutal Indian occupation has led to more than 100,000 civilian deaths, more than 10,000 individuals missing or disappeared, and thousands of Kashmiri women raped. He thanked the Government of Pakistan for defending not only Pakistan but also the territory of Kashmir during India’s invasion in April of 2025.
Sardar Sawar Khan, former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, said that Kashmir was the oldest unresolved international conflict still pending on the agenda of the Security Council. And that Kashmir was the only international dispute where the solution of the conflict – right to self-determination — was suggested by the parties themselves, India and Pakistan, he added.
Raja Mukhtar, Spokesperson of JKLF, North America, said India’s claim to be the world’s largest democracy but its actions in Kashmir speak otherwise.
Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir, condemned any restriction of free speech and expression throughout Jammu and Kashmir. World powers must stop the Indian government’s attack on free speech and urge the Indian government to ensure that rights activists, political leaders, and local journalists are allowed to work freely and without harassment in Indian occupied Kashmir, he maintained.
Rohail Dar, President, Pakistan Muslim League, USA, said the festering Kashmir dispute has occasioned two wars between Pakistan and India; and, at present, made the territory the most dangerous nuclear hotspot on the globe.
Khalid Awan, senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, USA, said, “Our thoughts are with all political prisoners and their families in India occupied Kashmir. He added that the right of free speech and free movement, particularly international travel, is limited in Kashmir and, in some cases, completely denied.
Raja Razzaq, the leader of Pakistan Muslim League, USA, said the draconian laws enacted by the Government of India in Kashmir provide the enabling environment that encourages and even rewards human rights abuses by India’s military and paramilitary forces. These laws, he said, empower the Indian army to commit human rights atrocities with total impunity.
Choudhary Mohammad Ishaq, a community leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, conditions have further deteriorated, and Kashmir’s special status has been revoked.
Sardar Haleem Khan, member, Supreme Council of JKLF, North America, said India, as a signatory to UN resolutions on Kashmir, has disregarded the promised referendum since 1948. The human cost has been devastating, with hundreds of thousands killed and thousands imprisoned, including Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah, and others, he added.
Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary, Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWA), said the situation in the region is highly explosive and appealed to the United Nations to take practical measures for settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
Ms Gazala Habib, Chairperson of Friends of Kashmir from Dallas, Texas, said, “We are here today, to demonstrate our unwavering solidarity with Kashmiri people who are living in the largest open prison under the Indian military rule. We want our brothers and sisters in Indian occupation to know that their sacrifices will never go in vain.”
Tayyaba Samina, a well-known human rights activist from Virgina, said despite the growing international awareness of India’s heinous crimes, India has kept on murdering and torturing innocent civilians in Kashmir.
Ms Aqsa Ghulam, a young and bright college student, said the Secretary General of the United Nations cannot simply stand by and allow India to continue to kill, torture and maim the people of Kashmir in this way. This must not stand.
Amna Habib, a notable social worker, said it is incumbent upon the United States as the leader of the free world, to take a leadership role in resolving the Kashmir conflict. No one else is in a position to resolve the conflict.
Dr. Amarjit Singh, President, Khalistan Affairs Center, appealed to the international community to use its diplomatic, moral and economic leverage with India to fulfill its commitment of the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Sardar Aftab Roshan, prominent human rights activist, said Kashmir is more than a human right issue, it is a freedom struggle for 23 million people of Kashmiris.
Sardar Mehmood Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir. said it is a fact that India’s intransigence and the world’s hesitation to fulfill its commitment drove the people of Kashmir to be more assertive in their struggle.
