Young Kashmiri scholar Saud Sultan engages diaspora in Washington
Washington: A memorable gathering was held in Washington, with young Kashmiri scholar and author Saud Sultan, son of Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, to discuss his acclaimed book “Jammu and Kashmir: The Forgotten Narrative – From Distorted Origins to Denied Freedom.”
According to Kashmir Media Service, the event was hosted by Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir, and attended by prominent Kashmiri figures including Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace and Justice, and community leaders Sardar Shoaib Irshad, Sardar Sajid Sawar, and Tahseen Hussain.
During the discussion, Saud Sultan, a Cambridge University graduate, said his work seeks to reclaim the Kashmiri narrative by relying primarily on Indian sources to challenge New Delhi’s propaganda on Jammu and Kashmir. “I did not want to provoke but to correct; not to romanticize but to remember,” he said, emphasizing that his research aims to document Kashmir’s reality from an authentic Kashmiri perspective.
Dr. Fai noted that the book has been introduced in several world capitals — including Brussels, London, Islamabad, and Muzaffarabad, with its latest launch in Washington, D.C. He praised Saud’s scholarly approach and commitment to advancing the intellectual discourse on the Kashmir dispute.
Host Sardar Zarif Khan said the book, based on extensive documentation and interviews, fills a long-standing gap by presenting Kashmir’s history through the eyes of Kashmiris themselves. Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary of the Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWZ), highlighted the book’s detailed analysis of the events of September–October 1947, noting that Saud’s research concludes India, not Pakistan, initiated the conflict.
The participants commended the young author’s efforts to counter Indian distortion of facts and wished him success in his scholarly pursuits.
