Thank you, High Commissioner, for asking me to participate in this Webinar that has been organized to affirm solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
I commend your efforts to draw attention of our Australian friends to the sufferings of the Kashmiri people, who are being held in captivity and subjected to the worst kinds of oppression by a million Indian troops.
I truly hope that this webinar will contribute to creating awareness and stirring the conscience of kind hearted people to speak up against tyranny and uphold justice for the Kashmiris.
Some 7000 miles from Australia lies embedded between China, Pakistan and India the beautiful Kashmir valley- surrounded by majestic mountains, populated by lush green forests and mighty torrents of glacial waters quietened by nature into fresh water lakes.
At the cross roads of civilizations, the cultural heritage of some nine million Kashmiris represents a fine amalgam of their spiritual and artisanal journeys over centuries in the kaleidoscope of majestic and mysterious Asia.
Rooted in spiritual humanism these peaceful people, who value harmony and extol virtues of tolerance had worked their fields, tended to their fruit gardens and woven exquisite tapestries by their hand-crafted looms, some of the finest samples of their trades for the world.
A dot on the map, known as heaven on Earth comparable to Switzerland, Kashmir was to become a point of contestation, a vortex of power politics, a saga of intrigues and deceits and a flash point for conflicts in the sub-continent of South Asia. A cruel compelling destiny ordained by the devils.
Over the past 70 years plus, the Kashmir dispute has triggered multiple wars between Pakistan and India and recently a bloody spate between China and India on the so-called Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
For India, Kashmir is a territorial question; for Pakistanis it is the rights of the Kashmiris to self-determination; and for China it is the expansive Indian claims to the entire region including the Chinese territory of Aksai Chin.
The history of Indian occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir goes back to 1947. This was valiantly resisted by the Kashmiris in their epic struggle for freedom and human rights.
The weight of history, legality, morality, as sanctified in the UN Security Council Resolutions were all on the side of Kashmiris. UN had decreed a plebiscite to enable Kashmiris to determine their future by exercising their right to self-determination. India accepted and then reneged on UN decisions.
On 5 August 2019, India illegally, forcibly and without consulting the Kashmiris dissolved the State of Jammu and Kashmir and has sought to incorporate it by declaring Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as Union territories to be ruled by fiat from New Delhi.
This constituted a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
It was done by incarcerating all Kashmiri leaders, inducting additional 1,00,000 troops and giving them a license to torment and tyrannize the Kashmiris into submission in futile attempts at acquiescing them to Indian rule.
9 million Kashmiris have been kept in captivity with their homes and hearths being systematically violated day in and day out for the past one and half year.
The sordid tales of Indian atrocities are well documented by the UN and international human rights organizations.
Thousands have been arrested and sent to unknown destinations.
Hundreds blinded by pellet guns.
Kashmiri youth are being eliminated.
There are countless instances of women been subjected to gang rape by occupation forces.
Kashmiri lands are being confiscated and given to settlers.
A communication black out in Kashmir was imposed to conceal horrific accounts of barbarity.
The Indian judiciary is either complicit or unable to hear cases of heinous crimes against Kashmiris, including extra judicial killings and large-scale disappearances.
The corona virus runs amok Kashmiri town and villages and is viewed by the occupation authorities as an accomplice in their genocidal policies.
India’s barbaric conduct in Kashmir is a blot on the conscience of mankind.
It is antithetical to all values and norms of civilized world.
The international community seems powerless to stop such willful trampling of the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people.
Imagine if the entire population of New South Wales were to be confined to their homes by foreign troops for over a year.
Imagine if homes were violated with impunity by the occupiers, land forcibly expropriated and alien settlers brought in to change demography.
Imagine a situation where spoils of colonial occupation become a prize.
A prize for political jingoism and fanning of ultra nationalist hysteria.
Imagine demonizing of humans; of whole communities; to objectify and legitimize their extermination.
All in the name of national glory and to win votes in the supposedly largest democracy of the world.
Complete and irrevocable alienation of the Kashmiris from India is being demonstrated by their non-violent, indeed stoic resistance to occupation.
Kashmiris have been steadfast in their belief that injustice cannot endure and their aspirations for freedom cannot be quelled by force.
The Kashmiri cauldron could trigger explosions, destroy the peace of the region, rip apart the fabric of political geography and spark wider conflagrations of global magnitude.
Peace loving people of the world must compel their governments to assert moral authority and exert their considerable influence to extinguish the fires now burning in Kashmir.
The Kashmiri resistance against colonial occupation and alien domination deserves the moral, political and diplomatic support.
Australian have always taken pride in upholding justice and human rights. They must not fail the people of Kashmir.
We applaud the comeback of the United States, once again, on the world scene, as a force for liberal democracy, human rights, peace and prosperity.
We applaud President Biden's intention to assert America's moral leadership across the globe.
The struggle to save and renew liberal democracy will be the defining themes of ongoing global contestation.
There is no room for complacency, hypocrisy and double standards.
Credible moral leadership and an objective value based global policy is what is required and will determine the outcome.
Kashmir is a signature case in this regard. For self determination is the founding principle of democracy.
Thank you!
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