Despite all that is going on in the world, it is important to keep the plight of Kashmir in our thoughts. Consequently, we present this interview with Michaela Lavis about her tour of the occupied Kashmir region at the end of 2019. There will be more calls for justice for Kashmir as time goes by, just as many all over the world call for justice for Iran, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and many other places beset by war and occupation.

The Kashmir crisis can be resolved by referendum

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Audio File:

https://tinyurl.com/ResolveKashmirwithReferendum

Description (14 minutes):

Phil interviews Michaela Lavis, a graduate student at York University, following the publication of her OP-ED piece in the Toronto Star entitled, “My Christmas in Kashmir’s Refugee Camps.”

Lavis explains that she visited 4 camps in Azad Kashmir (in Pakistan), which have housed some 40,000 refugees fleeing persecution in Indian-Occupied Kashmir since 1990. These are people whose family members were assaulted or arrested by Indian occupation troops or whose houses were burnt down. In these camps, the occupants have not heard a word from their families in Indian-Occupied Kashmir for six months since the Indian government unilaterally locked down Kashmir and annexed the territory.

The problem, Lavis notes, began in 1947 during the British partition of India.