Imran Yaqub
New York
Speakers at the Webinar included Ambassador Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Ambassador Salman Bashir, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, Mr. Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, President of World Kashmir Freedom Movement, Mr. Todd Shea, CEO and founder of Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) and Dr. Asif Rehman, Chair of Kashmir Humanitarian Task Force 2020.
At the outset Consul General Ayesha Ali highlighted the plight of the Kashmiris since the revocation of Article 370, one year ago. The siege of the Kashmiris and the violations of their human rights continued unabated even during COVID-19. She called on international community to prevail upon India to lift military siege in IIOJ&K and to hold India accountable for its illegal actions.
Former Foreign Secretary Mr. Salman Bashir said the Kashmiri people had been incarcerated in their homes in a year-long captivity by a million Indian troops and being subjected to the worse kind of oppression. He urged the US Government and people to speak up against tyranny and the folly of India’s brutal colonial conduct. He said America as an icon of freedom and human rights must assert its moral authority to hold India to account for its policies and practices in Kashmir that are akin to genocide. The US had supported the Kashmiris and many congressmen have spoken out for the cause of justice in Kashmir. He warned that if left unchecked the Kashmiri cauldron could trigger explosions and destroy the peace of the region, and spark wider conflagrations of global magnitude.
Mr. Ijaz Haider spoke at length about the illegal Indian actions and India’s attempt at the settler – colonial project of India which claims to be a democracy but whose defining feature is a Hindutva – driven exclusionary state. He said the international community must be made aware that Indian action of 5th August 2019 was illegal as a disputed territory could not be annexed.
