Pun­jab-based Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal (Am­rit­sar), Dal Khalsa and Tamil Nadu-based Naam Tami­lar Katchi, with the Delhi-based Com­mit­tee for Re­lease of Po­lit­i­cal Pris­on­ers and po­lit­i­cal ac­tivists from Kash­mir will hold a Jus­tice March and Rally at Jan­tar Man­tar in New Delhi on 26 Sep­tem­ber protest­ing the con­tin­u­ous 40-day un­re­lent­ing dis­re­spect for hu­man rights and po­lit­i­cal rights in the Kash­mir val­ley.  The In­dian Oc­cu­pied Kash­mir, af­ter the uni­lat­eral ab­ro­ga­tion of the spe­cial sta­tus of the peo­ple and the state, has be­numbed civil so­ci­ety and the In­dian po­lit­i­cal main­stream. To counter this, Pun­jabis, Sikhs and Tamils will stand up for the right of the Kash­miri peo­ple to speak for their rights and as­pi­ra­tions.

ON THE EVE OF the ad­dress of In­dian Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi and Pak­istan Prime Min­is­ter Im­ran Khan’s ad­dress to the United Na­tions Gen­eral As­sem­bly, on 27 Sep­tem­ber, the Pun­jabis, Sikhs and Tamils will con­verge in Delhi to raise their voice for the peo­ple of Kash­mir reel­ing un­der the jack­boots of the In­dian army and the harsh po­lit­i­cal ad­min­is­tra­tion there, which is unashamedly to­tally un­mind­ful of the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing state of hu­man rights in the re­gion.

Ad­dress­ing the press con­fer­ence here to­day, lead­ers Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, Harpal Singh Cheema, Kan­warpal Singh, Gur­deep Singh Bathinda and Ja­gath­eeswaran Pal­swamy de­clared that mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties will speak in In­di­a’s cap­i­tal to up­hold the right of the Kash­miris to speak. They ap­pealed to hu­man rights ac­tivists, po­lit­i­cal party rep­re­sen­ta­tives to join hands with them to speak for the rights of the peo­ple of Kash­mir.

This Jus­tice Rally will serve as a ral­ly­ing point to un­equiv­o­cally de­clare that the prob­lem of Kash­mir, the rights of the peo­ple of Kash­mir is an in­ter­na­tional is­sue and not a bi­lat­eral one as In­dia, the Se­cu­rity Coun­cil or even the United Na­tions think it to be.

Sikh lead­ers Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, Harpal Singh Cheema, Kan­warpal Singh, Tamil leader See­man and Kash­miri ac­tivist Prof. S. A. R. Gee­lani, along with scores of Sikh, Tamil and Kash­miri ac­tivists will stand up to In­dia and set the stage for other po­lit­i­cal par­ties and groups to speak for the rights of the Kash­miris and come out of their deep slum­ber.

“At the United Na­tions, the In­dian Prime Min­is­ter will pre­sent his side of the story on how In­dia is sup­press­ing the whole of Kash­mir to forcibly in­te­grate with In­dia. While the Prime Min­is­ter of In­dia will pre­sent his side of story on Kash­mir’s so-called in­te­gra­tion into In­dia, we will all stand up for the peo­ple of Kash­mir one day ear­lier and raise our voice for a peo­ple whose lives have been com­pletely par­a­lyzed since Au­gust 5,” read the press state­ment given out at the press con­fer­ence in Chandi­garh.

Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal (Am­rit­sar) pres­i­dent Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann said that “a state of numb­ness, pseudo-na­tion­al­is­tic and ul­tra-na­tion­al­ism is sweep­ing the coun­try and it is our duty as Sikhs to rise to the oc­ca­sion.  We up­hold the rights of the peo­ple of Kash­mir and we ex­press full sol­i­dar­ity with the peo­ple of Kash­mir and protest against their con­tin­ued sub­ju­ga­tion since the last 40 days by the In­dian state.”

A state of numb­ness, pseudo-na­tion­al­is­tic and ul­tra-na­tion­al­ism is sweep­ing the coun­try and it is our duty as Sikhs to rise to the oc­ca­sion.  

“This Jus­tice Rally will serve as a ral­ly­ing point to un­equiv­o­cally de­clare that the prob­lem of Kash­mir, the rights of the peo­ple of Kash­mir is an in­ter­na­tional is­sue and not a bi­lat­eral one as In­dia, the Se­cu­rity Coun­cil or even the United Na­tions think it to be,” said Dal Khalsa pres­i­dent Harpal Singh Cheema.

“While we are com­forted that United Na­tions is rais­ing its pitch of con­ster­na­tion against In­dia on the over­all sit­u­a­tion in Kash­mir, there is still a room to do more,” added Dal Khalsa spokesper­son Kan­war Pal Singh.

United Akali Dal pres­i­dent Gur­deep Singh Bhatinda said “the whole coun­try is shrouded in fear. Op­po­si­tion par­ties, non-gov­ern­men­tal groups, in­di­vid­ual hu­man rights de­fend­ers are all reel­ing un­der the deep stress caused by the In­dian state.”

Dal Khalsa spokesper­son Kan­warpal Singh pointed out that, “In In­dia, the Sikh, Tamil and Kash­miri lead­ers will hold demon­stra­tion in Delhi, whereas, the Sikh Youth of Amer­ica, units of Dal Khalsa and Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal (Am­rit­sar) will join the Sikh, Tamil and Kash­miri Di­as­pora and stage protests against In­di­a’s high­hand­ed­ness against mi­nori­ties and lock­down in Kash­mir at the United Na­tions head­quar­ters in New York.”

Pres­i­dent of the Sikh Youth of Pun­jab, Paramjit Singh Mand, told the me­dia that Sikh youth stands hand-in-hand with the peo­ple of Kash­mir and we will do all we can to pro­vide suc­cour to the suf­fer­ing of Kash­miri brethren.