India's aim to have G20 meeting in Kashmir is to legitimize its illegal occupation: Dr. Fai.

Kashmiri American diaspora held a peaceful protest in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York city to convey to G20 countries including the United Nations that holding a G20 meeting in disputed territory of Kashmir is meant to engineer a facade of normalcy in Kashmir. The digital trucks were also rented which displaced the messages: 'G20 risks legitimizing India's illegal occupation of Kashmir' 'G20 in Kashmir violates UN resolutions' 'G20 in occupied Kashmir enables genocide' 'Say NO to G20 in Kashmir' 'Modi: face of Fascism', ' 'End the Occupation: Free Kashmir', 'Demilitarize Kashmir', 'India: Release All Political Prisoners.'

A memorandum was submitted to the office of UN Secretary General, demanding among other issues, the unconditional release of human rights defenders and political prisoners, such as Khurram Parvez, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam, Aaasia Andrabi and various journalists, like Irfan Mehraj, Asif Sultan, Sajad Gul, Fahad Shah, Gowhar Gilani, etc

'India is holding the third G20 working group meeting on tourism today in disputed territory of Kashmir. Such a meeting is in contravention of more than 16 substantive resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. These resolutions which were agreed upon by both India and Pakistan remain still unfulfilled. By holding G20 meeting in Kashmir, India would like to give an impression of normalcy and the presence of G20 countries in Kashmir will unintentionally provide the seal of approval to reckless and thoughtless decision of Modi Administration,' said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General, Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum.

Dr. Fai appealed to the G20 countries to listen to Professor Fernand de Vareness, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, who warned the G20 countries that 'By holding a G20 meeting (in Kashmir) the Government of India is seeking to normalize what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalizing a G20 meeting and portray an international 'seal of approval', despite what Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, told the UN Human rights Council a few weeks ago was a @worrying human rights situation in the Kashmir region.'

Sardar Sawar Khan, former Member, Kashmir Council and main organizer of the peaceful protest hoped that the G20 countries, as signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva convention, and other International Human Rights...