spokesman Report
NEW YORK: As India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar addressed the 81st UN General Assembly session on September 26, a peaceful demonstration outside UN Headquarters urged the international body to fulfill its commitments on Jammu and Kashmir. Despite strong winds and heavy rain, demonstrators, including many women and children, carried banners demanding self-determination and rejecting what they called deceptive elections, calling instead for a plebiscite under UN resolutions.
Sponsored by the World Kashmiri Awareness Forum, with cooperation from JKLF North America’s Raja Mukhtar and Kashmiri Mission USA’s Sardar Taj Khan, protesters also demanded release of political prisoners including Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah and others.
Responding to Jaishankar’s invocation of Gandhi’s peace philosophy, demonstrators questioned whether India applies the same principles to Kashmir, citing Gandhi’s 1947 remarks on the primacy of the people’s will. They posed two questions to India: how it reconciles global responsibility claims with unresolved UN resolutions on Kashmir, and whether Gandhian principles should extend to Kashmiris’ right to determine their future.
Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, attending a conference in Kuala Lumpur, said the protesters’ resolve in the rain sent a powerful message that Kashmir’s people cannot be forgotten. The gathering concluded urging India, Pakistan and the UN to center Kashmiris in resolution efforts.
