WASHINGTON, D.C.: Speakers at a seminar in the United States have urged the international community to take concrete action to end India’s military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and ensure the right to self-determination for the Kashmiri people.
The event, titled “The Tragedy of October 27: When Kashmir Was Occupied,” was organised by the World Kashmir Awareness Forum in Springfield, Virginia, to mark October 27 — the day in 1947 when Indian troops entered Jammu and Kashmir, beginning decades of military occupation.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the seminar brought together participants from academia, human rights groups, the media, and the Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora. Speakers discussed the historical, political, and humanitarian dimensions of the Kashmir conflict, urging a renewed international focus on peace and justice.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, called October 27 one of the most tragic days in Kashmir’s history, recalling the mass killings and forced displacement that followed India’s invasion. He said the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom had endured for more than seven decades despite continued repression.
US Supreme Court Bar member Mowahid Hussain Shah, delivering the keynote address, said the Kashmir cause required renewed energy and strategic advocacy. Drawing parallels with global justice movements, he said, “Civil society pressure toppled apartheid in South Africa and advanced peace in the Middle East; Kashmir too needs that same passion and persistence.”
Dr. Zulfiqar Kazmi, founder of Commongrounds USA, said the struggle for Kashmir’s freedom resonated deeply in Washington, just miles from Capitol Hill, where democracy is celebrated but denied to millions in the occupied territory. “Justice delayed anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere,” he said, calling on the United Nations to act as it had in East Timor and South Africa.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice, said the presence of hundreds of thousands of Indian troops in the region continued to impose collective suffering on the Kashmiri population. He urged humanitarian intervention and third-party mediation to resolve the dispute, recalling that even former US President Donald Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan to prevent escalation.
Speakers collectively stressed that lasting peace in South Asia remains impossible without resolving the Kashmir issue in line with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
