Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF, www.iakf.org) organized a rally on August 9, 2008  in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) to show support for the right of Hindu pilgrims to safe and clean facilities en route to the annual Amarnath pilgrimage in Kashmir, India. Dozens of Americans of Kashmiri origin were joined by others affected greatly by the distressful news from the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The demonstrators lined up in downtown Boston holding placards expressing solidarity with the demands of the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, the group based in J&K that has coalesced to advocate for the rights of the minority Hindu population of the state.
 
Volunteers handed out informative flyers to the local masses. IAKF expressed hope that the government of India will address the demands of Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath and cancel the land-allotment revocation order and restore the normalcy in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. IAKF also condemned the role of certain Kashmiri separatist and pseudo-secularist politicians from the valley in engaging in false propaganda. IAKF reiterated that the agitation in Jammu province is a non-communal peoples’ movement led by the masses to reclaim their just rights.
 
Community activists also condemned the role of Pakistan in promoting global Islamic terrorism. IAKF condemned Pakistan’s direct as well as indirect support in harboring Islamic terrorists belonging to Al-Qaeda and Taliban. American tax-dollars that have been sent to Pakistan to counter Al-Qaeda and Taliban are in fact being diverted to support terrorist outfits operating in Afghanistan and India. In light of recent reports from the CIA and other agencies, IAKF asserted that it is time for United States government to enforce stricter demands with the Pakistani government in controlling sources of and funding to terrorist groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Kashmiri terrorist group that has declared a jihad against the United States in its manifesto.

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