Washington
\nA mobile digital billboard campaign was launched across Washington, DC, urging the United Nations to fulfil its long-standing commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and ensure their internationally recognised right to self-determination.
\nAccording to Kashmir Media Service, the campaign was organised by the World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) on the occasion of Right to Self-Determination Day, marking the anniversary of the United Nations Security Council resolution of January 5, 1949, which guarantees Kashmiris the right to decide their political future through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
\nThe brightly lit digital billboards carried strong messages such as \u201cKashmiris Demand Plebiscite,\u201d \u201cUN Resolutions: Kashmir Is Not an Indian Territory,\u201d \u201cIndia\u2014Release All Political Prisoners,\u201d \u201cStop Land Grabbing in Kashmir,\u201d and \u201cKashmir Facing Existential Threat\u2014UN Must Act.\u201d
\nThe awareness trucks moved through key federal and diplomatic locations, including the US State Department, Capitol Hill, the White House vicinity, Washington Monument, foreign embassies, Lincoln Memorial, World Bank, IMF and other prominent areas, attracting the attention of policymakers, diplomats, media representatives and the general public.
\nChairman of the World Forum for Peace and Justice, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, said denial of the Kashmiri people\u2019s right to self-determination has kept South Asia unstable and repeatedly brought India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states, close to conflict. He said the unresolved Kashmir dispute remains a serious threat to regional and global peace.
\nDr Fai added that since August 5, 2019, when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the situation has sharply deteriorated, marked by mass arrests, suppression of civil liberties, imprisonment of political leaders and systematic demographic changes. He said international human rights organisations have documented widespread abuses in the occupied territory.
\nWKAF President Dr Ghulam Nabi Mir said the international community has been deliberately misinformed about the plight of Kashmiris despite nearly eight decades of Indian military control. He said India has consistently defied UN resolutions through political manoeuvring to block a plebiscite.
\nKashmiri-American scholar Professor Dr Imtiaz Khan called on the UN Secretary-General to facilitate meaningful dialogue among India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people to create conditions for a free and impartial plebiscite. He also expressed concern over the rise of extremist Hindutva ideology in India and its impact on religious minorities.
\nLeaders of the Kashmir American Welfare Association said the campaign aimed to expose ongoing human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and highlight what they described as the silence of the international community driven by strategic and commercial interests.
\nPresident of Kashmir House Washington, Raja Liaqat Kiyani, said Kashmir remains one of the most militarised regions in the world. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr, he said the silence of the international community in the face of injustice was deeply troubling.
\nThe speakers stressed that durable peace in South Asia is impossible without resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and the United Nations resolutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington A mobile digital billboard campaign was launched across Washington, DC, urging the United Nations to fulfil its long-standing commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and ensure their internationally recognised right to self-determination. According to Kashmir Media Service, the campaign was organised by the World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) on the occasion of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n