OTTAWA: More than 100 people gathered on Parliament Hill Saturday to protest what they described as India’s brutal killings of civilians in Jammu Kashmir.
Local Sikhs joined in this protest on Oct 27, 1990. We must work together to achieve our common goals,
More than, 1,300 people have died in political violence this year in the northern state.
“India has opened a vast rape centre for their soldiers in Kashmir,” said Dr. Mahmood Khalid of the Canadian Council for the Rights of Kashmiris. He recounted stories of the killings of children and gang rapes of women.
Jammu Kashmir, bordering Pakistan, Came under the rule of India in 1947 as an aftermath of independence from British control.
The UN Security Council passed resolutions in 1948 and 1949 to guarantee a free plebiscite to determine the will of the people of Kashmir.
Saeed Bokharis, president of the Ottawa Muslim Association, said “the whole world is reacting to the aggressor in the Persian Gulf but this has been going on for more than 40 years.”
Chants of “Indian butchers go home,” were heard at the rally.
Tahver Ahmed, president of the Canadian Pakistani Association of Ottawa Hull, called on the UN to renew efforts for a free vote in Kashmir.
Speakers said Jammu Kashmir has been under a curfew for four months, and homes have been searched and burned.
They condemned the expulsion of foreign journalists and the ban on media from entering the ‘state.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 23, 1990
