Digital ads trucks flash messages around Washington demanding end to India’s occupation of Kashmir

Digital advertising trucks Thursday displayed around this capital city pointed messages like “Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolutions Only Solution” on July 04, the American Independence Day.

The Trucks were rented by the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, a Washington-based advocacy body, and put on road as most Americans were out of their homes, flocking to parks, parades, fireworks shows and barbecues for a brief respite from the daily drumbeat of unsettling news at home and abroad.

The holiday, which marks the July 4 signing of the Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776, is a day when Americans traditionally celebrate with displays of old-fashioned patriotism.

The electronic screens on the trucks carried messages such as: “Americans Celebrate Independence Day: Kashmiris Treat Indian Occupation with Dismay;” “No Election, No Selection: UN Resolution the Only Solution;” “Freedom of Kashmir only Solution: Enslavement Not an Option;” “Indian Forces on Killing Spree: Kashmir Need to Be Set Free;” “Kashmir Facing Existential Threat: United States Needs to Act;” “India Involved in Genocide: Kashmiris Demand Plebiscite;” and “Freedom For All: Freedom for Kashmir.”

Digital advertising trucks are considered to be the most effective way to spread a message as the brightly lit words on the screens catch attention of the people walking on the streets and those coming in and out of buildings.

The route of digital trucks in Washington included: National Mall where tens of thousands of visitors were gathered to celebrate the Independence Day, the Capitol Hill; The Washington Monument; The White House; Museums; and various embassies.

In a statement, Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, WKAF’ President, said, “We Americans of Kashmiri ancestry are grateful to the United States for having rendered moral and diplomatic support at the international level in our struggle against Indian occupation sine 1947.”

“July 4th,” he said, “is especially relevant to Kashmiri Americans as we continue to relish the fruits of complete freedom here in the US. Our people back in the colonized Kashmir keep encouraging us here in this country to cherish its independence while they resist to exist under a dehumanizing regime.”

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, WKAF’s Secretary General, warned, “Today Kashmir is at the brink of genocide.”

In this regard, Dr. Fai urged world leaders to use their moral authority to persuade the violators of the international laws to abide by these principles.

“Today, on its Independence Day, the United States should support the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people as it is in conformity with the statement made at the UN General Assembly by President John F. Kennedy on September 25, 1961 “That continuing tide of self-determination, which runs so strong, has our sympathy and our support…My Nation was once a colony, and we know what colonialism means; the exploitation and subjugation of the weak by the powerful, of the many by the few, of the governed who have given no consent to be governed, whatever their continent, their class, or their colour.”

Dr. Imtiaz Khan, a Kashmiri-American scholar. said that Americans of Kashmiri origin, though limited in numbers consider themselves extremely fortunate to be the citizens of this country. “We feel highly indebted to this country for the magnanimity in providing fair opportunity to succeed and realize our dreams. But while we are enjoying the benefits of freedom of expression in USA, we are pained by the repression and gross injustice in Indian occupied Kashmir, that is the place of our origin.”

Dr. Khan added that since year 2019, when Indian government by act of parliament abrogated article 370 and 35A, a sinister design to change the demographics of the region is being actively pursued. Hundreds of thousands of fundamentalist Hindus from India are being provided domicile certificates and settled in the region. The goal is to change the Muslim majority character of Kashmir that can lead to outcome in their favour down the road, in case plebiscite is held.

Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan Khan, a Kashmiri-American activist, Sardar Shoaib Irshad, Joint Secretary, Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWA) and Sardar Zubair Khan also called fot implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir to usher in peace and stability in the region.