The Azad Kashmir President, Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, has urged United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a special envoy in a decisive move to resolve the dec-ades-old Kashmir dispute on the basis of UN Secu-rity Council resolutions that pledged the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
He was addressing a big, boisterous rally of Kashmiris and Pakistanis in front of the United Nations building to denounce India’s reign of terror in Kashmir, as the Indian External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday afternoon.
President Sultan Chaudhry, who was the chief guest, denounced India’s “illegal” measures of 5 August 2019 that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, amid vociferous anti-India slogans and waving of a number of placards.
The placards read: “Modi: face of Indian Terror-ism”, “Kashmiri Lives Matter Too”, “End the Oc-cupation: Free Kashmir”, “Stand Up: Speak Up: Free Kashmir”, “India: Honour UN Resolutions”, “Freedom for all, Freedom for Kashmir,” “Indian Forces: Out of Kashmir”, “Demilitarize Kashmir”, “UN: Wake UP,” “No Justice, No Peace”, and, “In-dia: Release Yasin Malik and Other Political Pris-oners.”
A number of Sikhs also joined the rally, with Dr. Amarjit Singh, the head of Washington-based Khal-istan Affairs Center, expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris struggle for freedom from India.
“We stand with you against our common en-emy,” he told the cheering crowd. In his remarks , President Sultan Chaudhry said his unstinted effort to internationalize Kashmir issue will continue with full vigour. It was the duty of both Azad Kashmir and Pakistani governments to turn the spotlight on the human right abuses which have now reached to unprecedented proportions. He unequivocally con-demned the abominable act of changing the demo-graphic character of the region.
Sardar Haleem Khan, chairman of the JKLF and main organizer of the rally, emphasized that no solution of Kashmir will be acceptable if it does not recognize the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. He deplored the life im-prisonment handed down by an Indian special court in New Delhi to Muhammad Yasin Malik, one of the most prominent leaders of Kashmir, and Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, chairman of World Forum for Peace & Justice, called for the application of inter-national law was not selective in resolving the inter-national conflicts.
The Secretary-General dew atten-tion to the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir brought about by the atrocities on a massive scale which are being perpetrated by 900,000 Indian mili-tary and paramilitary forces on unarmed men, women, and children.—Agencie
