NEW YORK – Braving cold weather, hundreds of American Sikhs, Kashmiris andPakistanis Thursday demonstrated in front of the United Nations building toexpress solidarity with Pakistan and condemn India’s aggression against it,as the UN and world powers worked feverishly to de-escalate the heightenedtensions between the two South Asian countries.
Shouting vociferous anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans, they urged theUnited Nations to take a leading role to prevent a full-scale war betweenthe two countries in the wake of India’s blatant incursions across the Lineof Control (LoC) and Pakistan responding by downing two Indian warplanesinside the Pakistani airspace.
The demonstrators were carrying banners like banners like “Referendum NotWar”, “Stop Modi’s Jingoistic War”, “Modi: Face of Indian Terrorism”,“Pulwama: Election Stunt”, “Indian forces out of Kashmir” and“Self-determination for Kashmiris”.
Thursday’s “Anti-War” rally was organized by US-based “Sikhs For Justice”(SfJ), which seeks the independence of Punjab from Indian occupationthrough a referendum.
The SfJ initiative was backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), theOverseas Pakistanis Global Foundation, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),the Pakistan Muslim League-N, along with “Youth Akali Dal Amritsar (YADA),Sikh Youth of America (SYA) and American Gurdwara Prabhandhik Committee(AGPC) and Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front.
Later, the SfJ submitted a memorandum to the UN Assistant Secretary-Generalfor Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, calling for the resolution of theconflicts in Kashmir and Indian Punjab by organizing referendums in thoseregions.
Co-signed by several Kashmiri, Pakistani and Sikh organizations, it stated,“despite the peaceful, democratic nature of Kashmiri’s demand for aplebiscite and the Sikhs’ campaign for Referendum 2020, Indian authoritiesappear determined to crush these movements by unleashing a reign of terror.
“The Indian authorities are also exaggerating stories and fabricatingevidence to implicate the activists in terrorism cases.”
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It added, “To avoid any further human tragedy that a war and the cycle ofviolence brings forth, we urge the United Nations, as the principleorganization responsible for world peace, to take a lead role in impressingupon India the urgency of holding a plebiscite in the regions of Kashmirand Punjab which are under its control – this will determine the fate ofthese regions according to the wishes of the people.”
“Kashmiris and Sikhs have suffered genocide and violence for more than 70years and we believe that only a democratic process like a plebiscite canbring sustainable peace to the region. A referendum, not war is thesolution for the Indian held Kashmir and Punjab regions,” Gurpatwant SinghPannun, legal advisor to SFJ, said.
Sardar Sawar Khan, a former member of the Azad Kashmir Council, thanked theSikhs for organizing the demonstration and said that through their jointstruggle they would be able to achieve their goal of freedom from Indianyoke.
Also participating were Kashmiri leaders: Malik Imtiaz, Shabbir Gulk, TahirMian, Taj Khan, Imtiaz Garalvi, Chaudhry Zahoor Raja and Razak Malik. Sikhleaders included Sarabjit Singh Shiromani, Amandeep Singh, Amarjit Singh,Baljit Singh and Baba Amarjit Singh.
After demonstrating for a couple of hours, Kashmiris and Pakistanis marchedto the Indian Mission to the UN and staged a demonstration. They carriedPakistan and Azad Kashmir flags and called for India to stop its aggressivepolicies.
They raised “Pakistan Zinda Bad” and “Pakistan Military Zinda Bad” slogansand vowed to continue their struggle to liberate Kashmir from Indianoccupation.
