Islamabad, (Parliament Times) : The United Nations Security Council enshrined Kashmir’s right to self-determination via plebiscite over 70 years ago – yet this vote has never taken place. Today, the region remains illegally occupied by India, with 100,000 civilian lives lost. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist party, conditions have further deteriorated, and Kashmir’s limited autonomies have been revoked. The region is on the brink of disaster and genocide.
The region is also facing a devastating occupation and humanitarian crisis. 73 years of Indian military occupation have produced an existential threat, with 100,000 civilian deaths, 10,000 missing, and civic, political and economic life critically suppressed. In the past year, conditions have further deteriorated due to forced demographic changes and the lockdown and an at-will communication blackout imposed by the Modi government, paralyzing the state’s economy, education, healthcare system and social existence. UN-appointed independent human rights experts have called for urgent action in the region, amid concerns of ongoing abuses against civilians there.
WHAT: Protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the day of his address to the United Nations General Assembly. Organized by the U.S.-based nonprofit World Kashmir Awareness Forum and co-sponsored by U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), Majlis As Shura New York, ICNA/Council for Social Justice.
The protest will include Kashmiris and allies from across the world. Demands include:
Immediately lift the military occupation, release all political prisoners, and restore communications and internet connectivity for all Halt and rescind all laws instituted to accelerate demographic changes and promote the ethnic, cultural and political cleansing of the Kashmiri people Allow Kashmiris to exercise their unfettered right of self-determination through a free and fair referendum