ISLAMABAD: To observe the Kashmir Black Day, a seminar was held in Sydney Australia under the chair of Consul General of Pakistan Muhammad Ashraf. Members of New South Wales Parliament, Australian Federal Parliament and Senators representing different political parties, besides a large number of Australians especially the members of Australian-Pakistani, Australian-Arab, Australian-Turkish and Sikh communities attended the seminar.
The Consul General Muhammad Ashraf briefed the audience on the background of the issue and stated that Kashmiris across the globe observe 27th October as the 'Black Day' every year to commemorate the illegal annexation of Jammu & Kashmir by India on 27th October 1947. He highlighted the plight of Kashmiri people under curfew, lockdown, and communication blockade. He called upon the international community to play its role in ensuring the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people.
Representative of the Sikh community and the renowned human rights activist Gursharan Singh emphasized that right to self-determination was an inalienable right of Kashmiris as enshrined in the UN charter. He emphasised that Muhammed Ali Jinnah was right in forecasting what India would look like after 1947.
Islamic Forum for Australian Muslims (IFAM) general secretary Usaid Khalil expressed his solidarity with the imprisoned people of Kashmir. He underscored that other global issues like Palestine always get the limelight and somehow the issue of Kashmir has been put on back burner. He proposed to form a forum of Australians for Kashmiris so that the issue gets highlighted in Australia.
Chief Executive of Australian Federation of Islamic Council (AFIC) Keysar Trad stated that Gaza and Kashmir had been called as open-air prisons, but the situation was even worse than prisons as the prison wardens are now allowed to kill the prisoners as Indian army is doing in Kashmir.
He praised the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan among other Muslims leaders for taking up courageous stand to condemn the Indian atrocities. Ms. Lee Rhiannon, the former Senator from Australian Green Party, spoke at length against the human rights abuses in Indian Occupied Kashmir. She emphasised that the Australian Government should take up the issue of human rights with the Indian Government and condemned both Prime Minister Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah for perpetrating crimes against humanity in Kashmir.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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