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NEW YORK: A Group of Kashmiris attracted the attention of thousands of tourists and locals when they demonstrated at New York's famous Time Square on Saturday October 27, 2007 to observe "Black Day" on the 60th Anniversary of Indian Occupation of Kashmir. Kashmiris were pressing for their right to self-determination as mandated by UN Security Council and urged an immediate end to the suffering of people in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The Kashmiris from diversified walks of life gathered under the banner of Kashmir Mission USA led by Malik Nadeem Abid on the 60th anniversary of India's illegal occupation of Kashmir, a day the Kashmiris around the world marked as Black Day. This is the first time Kashmiri group got permission to demonstrate at Time Square, New York which is the most popular tourist destination in the United States. The demonstration was organized on Saturday evening when the Time Square was jam packed with hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world. Thousands of tourists took the photographs of the demonstration and also requested information about the current situation in Kashmir. It is interesting to mention that several of the tourists from India also stopped by and showed their solidarity with people of Jammu & Kashmir and supported their Right of Self Determination.
The demonstrators condemned human rights violations in Kashmir by Indian para-military forces and drew world attention to the plight of men, women and children in the highly militarized valley. India has stationed over one million military and para-military forces in Jammu& Kashmir making it world's highest concentration of army in any civilian areas, in clear violation of United Nation's Resolution of 1950.
The peaceful demonstrators called for a solution to the long-standing dispute, a major cause of South Asian tensions, in accordance with wishes of Kashmiri people, stressing peace in the region cannot be achieved without a durable settlement of the UN-recognized dispute. They demanded Right of Self Determination as promised by the United Nations 59 years ago.
The Kashmiris were carrying slogans like "India Stop Killing in Kashmir", "Give Peace a Chance : End Indian Occupation of Kashmir" "Kashmir Want Freedom from India", "UN Resolutions : Good for Others, Why Not Good for Kashmir", "Kashmir : Heaven Made Hell By Indian Army", "Gandhi's Followers, Killing Innocent Civilians in Kashmir", "India Does Not Allow Human Right Observers in Kashmir", "India : World's Largest Hypocrisy ", etc.
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