Marginalization of Kashmir will not serve the interests of the United States: Dr. Fai
Chicago, September 4, 2023: “The unconcern of the United States administration is a most discouraging factor. The Biden Administration at first showed some concern, at least over the savagery of the Indian occupation in Kashmir. It was reflected in the ‘Country Report on Human Rights Practices’ issued by the United States, Department of State. However, after the visit of Narendra Modi, United States tilted completely towards India. It is quite understandable that the tilt was caused by the prospect of profitable American investments in that large country. As Americans, we appreciate the importance of expanding economic relations between the United States and India. But American investments in India will remain exposed to grave danger as long as the South Asian subcontinent remains a scene of continuing strife, with the specter of war always in the horizon and a nuclear exchange not an impossibility,” this was stated by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum while talking to the leadership of Americans of Azad Kashmir ancestry in Chicago.
I really felt home when I met with Javed Rathore Sahib, President of Amro Group USA and well-known leader of the Kashmiri American community; Mujeeb Qazi, an entrepreneur and leading Kashmiri activists in the State of Texas; and Yasin Chohan, businessman and a seasoned human rights activist in Chicago.
Dr. Fai added that “even from a purely economic perspective, if not from concern over peace, genuine democracy and observance of human rights, the restoration of normalcy in South Asia deserves to be a policy goal for the world’s only superpower. The Kashmir dispute being the key cause of conflict, its marginalization can hardly serve long-term interests of the United States.
Javed Rathore said, India and Pakistan are the parties to the dispute and the people of Jammu & Kashmir do recognize it. However, both India and Pakistan also need to realize that ultimately it is the people of Kashmir who are the primary and principal party. Government of Pakistan has the responsibility, Javed Rathore stressed, to provide diplomatic and political support to the hapless people of Kashmir. The people of Indian occupied Kashmir look toward the people of Pakistan of all political orientations to persuade the current administration to take some tangible initiatives which will convince the world powers to intervene in Kashmir and bring the suffering and pain to an end.
Yasin Chohan said that my people have been languishing under the foreign occupation of India for the last more than seven decades. India has deprived the people of Kashmir the civil, cultural, religious, and economic rights, which are enshrined in the International Covenants, Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have yet to realize the political rights despite being promised by the United Nations Security Council as early as 1948.
Mujeeb Qazi said that it is the responsibility and obligation of the Kashmiri global diaspora in general and Kashmiri Americans in particular, to become the real ambassadors of their compatriots. The world powers need to understand, Mujeeb Qazi stressed that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute will bring peace, prosperity, and happiness to the entire region of South Asia.
“How long will the world powers watch in silence as India carries out the genocide of the people of Kashmir? This question was asked by Dr. Gregory Stanton, Chairman, Genocide Watch during a Congressional Hearing at the Capitol Hill”, Mujeeb Qazi reminded us.
Sardar Aftab, Sohail Mirza, Raja Razzak, Shabir Mir, Younus Mir and others also participated in the discussion.
Dr. Fai can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435. Or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com
