Washington, April 21, 2025, (TW) __ Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness forum (WKAF), an advocacy organization rented mobile digital advertising trucks displaying sharp messages around New York City and Washington, DC that exhorted the United Nations to implement its decades-old resolutions, particularly resolution # 47 which was adopted on April 21, 1948, with the full support of the United States, pledging to the people of Kashmir their right to self-determination. WKAF underscores the critical importance of United Nations resolutions on Kashmir as they provide an agreed plan for settling the 78-year-old dispute between India and Pakistan.
“These resolutions bind both India and Pakistan to respect the verdict of the people of Kashmir to be obtained through a free vote under the impartial supervision of the United Nations,” Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General of WKAF said in a statement issued on Monday. Dr. Fai added that the “Digital advertising trucks are considered to be the most effective way to spread a message as the brightly lit words on the screens catch attention of the people walking on the streets and those coming in and out of government and commercial buildings and particularly from the United Nations Headquarters. Our objective was to target the audience at the right places, and we were able to control the location where most of the people were able to notice our messages aimed at promoting the cause of Kashmir.
“It is tragic that civilized nations have fallen from their lofty calling: namely, human rights for all mankind. There is a sad commentary on the state of human rights all over the globe, including Indian occupied Kashmir,” Fai emphasized.
The electronic screens on the trucks carried messages such as: Abuses in Kashmir Continue Till Date: UN Needs to Fulfill the Mandate; Voices of Freedom From Kashmir Strong as Ever: UN Wake Up and Deliver; India Commits Atrocities in Kashmir with Impunity: Mass Graves and Rapes are Crimes Against Humanity; Blinding of Children in Kashmir A Shameful Act: United Nations: It is Time to React; Elections in Kashmir Just A Name: Indian Government Has No Shame; Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolutions the Only Solution; Hold India Accountable for War Crimes in Kashmir; India Stop Land Grabbing in Kashmir; Indian Army Out of Kashmir.
The route of digital truck in Washington included: The National Mall, All federal buildings, including the State Department; the Capitol Hill; Library of Congress; The Washington Monument; The White House; foreign embassies, various Museums; Lincoln Memorial; Washington National Cathedral; the Indian Embassy; the World Bank and IMF. And in New York, The United Nations headquarters, offices of various UN Missions, Freedom Tower, Indian Mission; Battery Park, Central Park, and Times Square.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President, WKAF and Chairman, Kashmir Diaspora Coalition said April 21 marks one of the most important days in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. On that day in 1948, nearly a year after Britain quit India, India brazenly invaded and occupied the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. United Nations Security Council intervened to stop the war and succeed in securing a Cease Fire Resolution.
The resolution, Dr. Mir added, guaranteed the people of Kashmir an unfettered right to self-determination under UNSC auspices. Unfortunately, 78 years on, India continues to violate that pledge it made to the people of Kashmir. Peace has been elusive to the region and no such prospects is in sight— All because of India ‘s evil designs and wicked government policies. Kashmiris are being mercilessly oppressed; lands and natural resources are being stolen and homes are being bulldozed to destroyed Kashmir.
Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar said that today marks the 77th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, that concerns the resolving of the Kashmir conflict. The resolution called for holding of a Plebiscite under UN auspices that will decide the future destiny of the region. Notwithstanding the fact that both India and Pakistan welcomed the UN mediation, but the promises made to people of Kashmir were never fulfilled.
Dr. Khan added that on August 5, 2019, Indian parliament abrogated article 35A and 370 and revoked the autonomous status of Kashmir. This opened the floodgates for fanatic Hindus who with connivance of Indian government to receive expedited domicile certificates and were provided with land grabbed from the local population. The transition of demographic character of Kashmir is being pursued at breakneck speed. Peace loving people of Kashmir who are demanding nothing more than what was promised to them by international community have been pushed to wall. There pleas are falling on deaf ears while atrocities are unabated. Time is of the essence, and it is high time UN uses its authority to prevail upon India to put an end to human right abuses and come to negotiation table including Pakistan and genuine leadership of Kashmir. Anything short of this will not be acceptable to people of Kashmir and the region will continue to tread on path of disaster.
Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir said that Kashmir’s painful situation is a rebuke to the world powers for their passivity. The world powers need to know that unless India accepts the realities known to the entire world outside the dispute will fester; and that any solution must satisfy democratic principles, the rule of law, and security for every inhabitant of Kashmir.
Sardar Zarif Khan emphasized that the brutalities of Indian government cannot and should not go unnoticed. It is the responsibility of the Kashmiri diaspora to be the voice of voiceless people in the corridors of powers all over the world.
Sardar Taj Khan, Vice President, Kashmir Mission, USA said Kashmiris wanted peace but peace with dignity and honor. No country whatsoever has the right to decide the fate of Kashmir, saying that it were the people of Kashmir who were granted the right to determine the political future.
Sardar Taj Khan added that Pakistan has always stood by the side of Kashmir’s demand for a plebiscite. He said the killings of innocent civilians in Indian occupied Kashmir must shake the conscience of all peace-loving people. He condemned the efforts to muzzle the press and called for restoring the right to assemble and freedom of expression in Indian occupied Kashmir
Comrade Shahid, Secretary General, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum underscored the role the right of self-determination in resolving festering disputes and bringing freedom to the occupied people. He hopes that the stage is set to put the Kashmir conflict on a road to a durable and permanent settlement. “Too often,” Comrade Shahid said, “the international community closes its eyes to the brutal reality of Kashmir because of India’s hegemony in South Asia and its potentially attractive consumer market. It has crowned India with a veto power over outside intervention.
Raja Mukhtar, Leader, JKLF, North America said that we stand in solidarity with the people of the occupied Kashmir. We condemn in the strongest terms the ban on civil society and private NGO’s, including JKLF and restrictions on freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly,” Raja Mukhtar added that it is gravely sinful for a nation to remain silent or passive over the frightful” human rights violations anywhere in the world, including Kashmir. He demanded the release of all political prisoners, including the most recognizable leader, Yasin Malik.
Advocate Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalvi, Secretary General, Kashmir Mission USA said that the resolution of Kashmir issue could have enabled both Pakistan and India to spend their finite resources more on the development of their people rather than on defense expenditure He expressed his unconditional moral support to the people of Kashmir for a just and peaceful solution to the long-standing dispute. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brethren.”
Sardar Sawar Khan, former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir said that he firmly believes that the only way to achieve a peaceful and lasting solution to the Kashmir crisis in through dialogue and negotiations. There can be no solution to the conflict without the participation of the leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Sardar Sawar added that Kashmir dispute is about the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The nuclear danger in South Asia will never recede until Kashmiris receive the justice and political liberty promised by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions providing for a free and fair self‑determination vote.
Speaking at the event, Sardar Zubair Khan, representative of Voice of Justice in Kashmir emphasized that he unresolved conflict over Kashmir threatens the international peace and security of the world. It is far past time for the UN to take forceful action in order to restore the faith of common people that it is an agency that can live up to its bold charter and mission of bringing peace and stability to the world.
Sardar Shakeel Anjum said that India should allow a referendum in Kashmir to prove to the world that it is truly a great democratic country, and not the persistent and militaristic oppressor that it has become. Shakeel Anjum added that the people of Kashmir believe that human rights lose value when the enforcement is selective.
Raja Liaqat Kiyani, President, Kashmir House, Washington said that the United States must understand that Kashmiris crave only what every American covets: human rights, democratic values, peace and justice, and believe that Washington’s successes elsewhere could be duplicated in Kashmir with persistence, moral suasion, and statesmanship. Raja Liaqat Kiyani added that India has defied United Nations Security Council resolutions for more than 78years because she knows Kashmiris will never vote in her favour. It was time for Pakistan and India both to get serious about talks, he said.
For more information please contact,
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice.
He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435 or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com
www.kashmirawareness.org