WASHINGTON — Chanting for freedom and holding placards high, members of the Kashmiri-American community and their allies gathered outside the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, demanding the release of Kashmiri political prisoners, reported by APP. The rally drew participants from across the United States and Canada, united in calling for the immediate freedom of figures such as Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Masarat Aalam, and Aasia Andrabi, whom they described as “unjustly imprisoned for years.”
Sardar Zarif Khan, adviser to the president of Azad Kashmir and one of the main organizers, urged New Delhi to release the incarcerated leaders “in the name of humanity.” Protesters carried signs declaring, “India — Release all political prisoners unconditionally” and “No justice, No peace.” Others branded India’s Supreme Court rulings on Kashmir a “delusion” and denounced what they called the erosion of democracy in the disputed territory.
An emotional appeal came from Razia Sultan, daughter of Yasin Malik, who has been jailed since 2019. “I love my father deeply. I have not seen him for seven years, nor spoken to him for six,” she said, urging international intervention. “If Prime Minister Modi is so powerful, why is he afraid of my father simply for speaking the truth?”
Speakers from advocacy and diaspora organizations emphasized what they see as a long-standing campaign of repression. Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, president of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, said Indian authorities have kept Kashmiri leaders and journalists imprisoned “under draconian laws for decades without due process.” Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice, warned that India’s National Investigation Agency is now seeking to convert Malik’s life sentence into a death penalty. “This is not a legal case but a political one,” he said, stressing that Malik’s struggle symbolizes “the sacrifices of an entire people.”
Other speakers, including Kashmiri-American scholar Dr. Imtiaz Khan and attorney Mowahid Hussain Shah, portrayed Malik as a revolutionary figure whose imprisonment closes the door to peaceful resolution and risks radicalizing a new generation. Shah, speaking beside the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the embassy, contrasted Gandhi’s legacy of nonviolent struggle with what he described as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hardline Hindu nationalism.
Organizers also noted that on August 11, India’s Delhi High Court sought Malik’s response to the plea for a death sentence, with a hearing scheduled for November 10, when he will appear virtually before judges. “We are here to stand for Yasin Malik,” said Sardar Shoaib Irshad, general secretary of the Kashmir American Welfare Association.
The demonstration featured voices from across the diaspora — religious scholars, community leaders, human rights advocates, and political representatives — all pressing for the release of prisoners and an end to what they described as decades of injustice in Kashmir.
