A massive rally was held in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, demanding the immediate release of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, and all other Kashmiri political prisoners.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the demonstration was organized by the Kashmiri American community and attended by leaders, activists, scholars, and human rights defenders from across the United States and Canada.
Addressing the gathering, Razia Sultan, daughter of jailed Muhammad Yasin Malik, made an emotional appeal to the leaders of the free world to save her father’s life, saying India planned to execute him next month for the “crime” of speaking the truth about Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. She said she had not seen him for seven years nor spoken to him for six, adding, “If Indian Prime Minister Modi is so powerful, why is he afraid of my father?”
Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir, said the protesters were united in demanding freedom for all Kashmiri leaders, including Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarrat Alam, and Aasiya Andrabi. Protesters carried placards and shouted slogans such as “Supreme Court decision is a delusion, Kashmir needs a resolution” and “Indian democracy dead in Kashmir.”
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, said India had turned occupied Jammu and Kashmir into an “open-air prison,” where leaders, human rights defenders, and journalists were incarcerated for decades under draconian laws.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman of the World Forum for Peace and Justice, said the NIA’s plea seeking the death penalty for Yasin Malik was a political vendetta aimed at silencing the Kashmiri freedom struggle. Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar, warned that Modi was using Yasin Malik’s case as a pawn for domestic politics.
Other speakers included Mowahid Hussain Shah, attorney-at-law; Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary of KAWA; Sardar Mehmood Iqbal, Advisor to AJK President; Hafiz Habibullah, religious scholar; Zia ul Hassan, community leader; Hamid Malik, Washington community leader; Sardar Aftab Roshan Khan; Dr. Rohanda Hamilton, DC mayoral candidate; Mrs. Evans (97-year-old activist); Sadaqat Hayat, Kashmiri-Canadian activist; Sardar Yameen Khan; and Sardar Zahid Hussain of Pennsylvania.
They collectively urged the United Nations, the United States, and other world powers to press India to release Yasin Malik and all other Kashmiri political detainees, and to allow the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their UN-pledged right to self-determination.
At the conclusion, Dr. Fai thanked the participants and media representatives, including Manzoor Hussain, Zahid Hussain (Weekly Dunya), Javid Kousar (BOL TV), Yusuf Choudhary, Khurram Shahzad, and Attique Sadozai (SUNO TV). The rally ended with a special prayer for the martyrs of Kashmir.
