How Can the Australian Celebrate the Kashmir Day?
On the one hand, releases, seminars, and exhibitions are held on Kashmir Solidarity Day in Australia. And other countries, including Australia. On the other hand, the UN Human Rights Report has criticized the Indian government’s Kashmir policies.
UN Human Rights Report
According to the United Nations, there have been numerous reports of repeated human rights violations before and after Kashmir’s special status revocation. In July, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The report released expressed grave concern over the abuse by state security forces and armed groups in both Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir.
The report found that “since 2016, Indian security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir have continued to use pellet-firing shotguns as a weapon to control the mob, despite a large number of accidental civilian casualties.” And the wounded. “
It also said that the Kashmir region was facing obstacles in accessing the internet as the authorities often arbitrarily suspended internet services.
According to Human Rights Watch, a UN human rights watchdog, the Indian government lifted an 18-month internet blockade in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, before India revoked the state’s constitutional sovereignty. UN experts have expressed concern over the abuses in Kashmir, including the arbitrary detention of journalists, alleged killings in custody, and “increasing incidents of systematic violations of fundamental rights used against the local population.” ۔
Program on Kashmir Day
Pakistan High Commission Canberra organized a live webinar on solidarity with Kashmiris on the evening of February 4 through a zoom conference.
The webinar was chaired by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry. Also, he is featured Senator Mehreen Farooqi Senator David Shaw Bridge. So Senator Janet Wright, and Lee Rehnen, a former member of the K Greens. As well as University of Western Australia professor Samina Yasmeen and former Pakistan. Many participants, including Ambassador Aizaz Chaudhry, expressed their views. People from other cities, including Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, also participated in the webinar to solidarity with Kashmiris. The speakers expressed concern over the atrocities in Kashmir.
On February 9, in solidarity with Kashmiris in programs in Australia. Pakistani High Commissioner Hafeez Chaudhry and other participants called for resolving the Kashmir issue by UN resolutions.
A demonstration of solidarity with the Kashmiri people is being organized in Melbourne. On Saturday, February 2, at 6 pm in Federation Square on Kashmir Solidarity Day. Also, workers, social and human rights activist Karan Wali and a Kashmiri organization called “Stand by Kashmir.” The aim is to raise a voice against the alleged atrocities perpetrated on the Kashmiri people for decades.
Aims of Kashmiri People
It also aims to send the Kashmiri people that they are not alone in their struggle for independence. Organizers have called on the public to take part in the protest. The Melbourne CBD is hosting a peaceful rally with several Australian community groups and supporting the Kashmiris and events in Sydney and other cities to mark the occasion.
Along with Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and other Australian cities, other countries worldwide. So we had earlier staged rallies against the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A by supporters of the Kashmiri people.
On Saturday, February 5, in collaboration with the Pakistan Australia Association, Australian Palestinian Group, and other community organizations from 12 noon to 4 pm. David Schubert will inaugurate the ceremony, while Pakistan’s High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry will distribute prizes for the best painting.
The Indian Government
The Indian government’s decision to abolish the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. And in 1919 had divided the local Australian communities with protests. And demonstrations against alleged human rights violations in the region on the one hand and Australia on the other. Pro-India circles in India supported this Indian initiative.
The Melbourne Kashmiri Pandit Cultural Association president called it a “historic decision.” Indu Kol had told SBS Hindi that the “majority of Kashmiris like Dogra. Also, Ladkhi, Pandit is happy with the Modi government’s decision on Kashmir. However, according to him, some Kashmiri Muslims are not happy. “
The Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria was one of the organizations whose members had been present during the Melbourne protests.
Council chairman Jasbir Singh told SBS Punjabi that “Sikhs have always stood up against injustice and this is no different.”
The celebration of Kashmir Solidarity Day has been going on uninterruptedly for the last 30 years. Political and religious parties also organized protest rallies across Pakistan on this day. India calls Kashmir an internal affair and blames Pakistani incursions for the insurgency, which Pakistan denies.
