Dr. Fai Expresses His Gratitude to Well-Wishers

11th April, 2014:  Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai or “Dr. Fai” as he is known by many people across the world visited Northern California recently and addressed gatherings in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey and Sacramento. This writer was able to hear his address to a get together at the Kabob and Chutney Restaurant in California’s Capital on Wednesday, March 26, 2014, an event jointly put together by the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) and The Pakistan-American Democratic Forum (PADF) whose leader Dr. Agha Saeed was very much present here. Dr. Fai was recently released early from a minimum security facility after being sentenced for activities related to the Kashmiri-American Council (KAC). The details of the case are widely available on the internet and will not be discussed here, but the organizers of his visit had introduced him both as “The Most Distinguished Kashmiri-American Thinker” and “The Recently Released Political Prisoner”, a voice of an oppressed people.

Dr. Muhammad Ayyub Thakur, the first of four children, was born in 1948 in Pudsoo village near Shopian, in the Pulwama district of Kashmir. It was 1973 when I first heard that Dr….

Washington, D.C. June 8, 2014. “The freedom struggle in Jammu & Kashmir has passed through its transformation from armed struggle to a non-violent mass movement. This non-violent, indigenous and peaceful struggle needs to be recognized and strengthened by the world powers.” This was stated by Barrister Sultan Mahmood Choudhary, former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir and Senior Leader of Pakistan Peoples Party – Azad Kashmir while addressing the press and community leaders in Springfield, Virginia.

Barrister added that the international community has maintained silence at the unending atrocities, which the people of Kashmir are facing on daily basis. The international community seems to forget about Kashmir in the midst of everything that happens in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The world powers should know that there would be no peace in Afghanistan until there is a solution of the Kashmir conflict. The road to peace in Afghanistan goes through Kashmir.

Barrister Sultan urged India to positively respond to Pakistan’s sincere efforts and willingness for a peaceful settlement on all issues through composite dialogue, including the Kashmir dispute. He added that Kashmiris are the real sufferers and unless they are taken on board no such process can make any headway. He underlined it was imperative that self-determination be granted to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to maintain peace and stability in the region.

By: Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai

Over 100,000 Kashmiris have lost their lives in the past 23 years. 8,000 to 10,000 people have disappeared.  2,700 mass graves have been discovered in the town of Kupwara alone.  It is well documented that hundreds of thousands of Indian armed forces have made Kashmir the largest occupation on earth.  The conditions in our homeland have become so ugly with rapes, beatings, shootings and other crimes inflicted by the occupation that we are condemned as a lot in the eyes of the world to be ignored and forgotten because, aside from any intentional bias in the press, no one wants to think about it. Kashmir has almost become a forgotten land, a forgotten people.   

Washington, D.C. July 6, 2012. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai has welcomed the foreign secretaries’ talks between New Delhi & Islamabad on July 4 – 5, 2012 where they exchanged views on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir and agreed ‘to continue discussions in a purposeful and forward looking manner with the view to finding a peaceful solution by narrowing divergences and building convergences.’ “These talks offer hope for peace in South Asia if the course of justice is followed and both parties undertake to abide by their commitments. The continuance of talks can only be useful if they reflect a sense of urgency and prepare the ground for an earnest effort at the highest level to frame a step-by-step plan of settlement of the Kashmir dispute. Mere persistence of talks at a level lower than political leadership of the two countries – and that too at a leisurely pace – will in no way defuse the situation. Unintentionally though, it will mock the agony of the people of Kashmir rather than assuage it,” Fai added.

San Francisco. March 29, 2014. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of “World Kashmir Awareness” has announced a six point agenda to set a stage for the resolution of Kashmir issue. He was addressing a well represented seminar entitled “Kashmir: A reminder to the American policy makers,” here at Fremont, California. The event was sponsored by the American Muslim Alliance and Pakistani American Democratic Forum which are headed by a well-known political scientist, Dr. Agha Saeed. Mr. Mike Gravel, former member of the U.S Senate, Mr. Naeem Baig, President of Islamic Circle of North America and Dr. Hatem Bazian – a prominent Arab American leader spoke on the event.