Kashmiris to stage big protest when Modi addresses UNGA

NEW YORK: Kashmiris, Pakistanis and their allies from across the world will stage a demonstration outside the United Nations building when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the UN General Assembly on September 25 to protest the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and call for the exercise of their UN-pledged right of self-determination.

The rally has been organised by the US-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum and co-sponsored by US Council of Muslim Organisations (USCMO), Majlis As Shura New York, ICNA/Council for Social Justice, according to an announcement.

On Sunday, the organisers said, the disputed Kashmir region remains illegally occupied by India, with 100,000 civilian lives lost. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, conditions have further deteriorated, and Kashmir’s limited autonomies have been revoked, they said, adding the region is on the brink of disaster and genocide.

The protesters, according to the announcement, will demand immediate lifting of the military occupation, release of all political prisoners, and restoration of communications and internet connectivity for all. They will demand halting and rescinding of all laws instituted to accelerate demographic changes and promote the ethnic, cultural and political cleansing of the Kashmiri people, and, allowing Kashmiris to exercise their unfettered right of self-determination through a free and fair referendum.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who will address the 193-member Assembly, is expected to focus on the grave situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and press the world body to the grant the people of Kashmir their inalienable right to self-determination.