Vijay Sazawal Ph.D.

Director, Past-President

Dr. Vijay K. Sazawal is a founding member (1991) of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) and served twice as its President. Currently, he is the Overseas Coordinator of three Kashmiri expatriate organizations – the U.S. based IAKF, the Indo-Canadian Kashmir Forum (ICKF) in Ottawa, and the Indo-European Kashmir Forum (IEKF) in London and Geneva. These entities are recognized non-governmental organizations (NGO) which participate in the United Nations Council on Human Rights (UNCHR) Working Group on Minorities. Dr. Sazawal is also a member of the Interfaith International, which is an accredited organization to the UNCHR, and frequently speaks on the human rights issues in Geneva.

Dr. Sazawal works closely with religious minorities of Jammu and Kashmir, and has addressed the plight of Kashmiri minorities in meetings with the U.S. Administration, U.S. Congressmen and the media. He has made numerous presentations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Asia Society. He has also made provided testimony in the hearings held on Kashmir by the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament. Dr. Sazawal is a member of the National Advisory Committee on South Asian Affairs (NACSAA), an informal expert group advising the U.S. State Department on South Asian political and security issues. He has authored numerous articles, in American and Indian publications, discussing various aspects of the Kashmir issue with particular emphasis on local politics within the Kashmir valley. He is a frequent commentator on the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu programs beamed to South Asia. Dr. Sazawal was invited by the Indian Prime Minister to a private meeting on January 18, 2006 in New Delhi to discuss various confidence building measures related to Kashmiri minorities.

Dr. Sazawal and his wife were born and raised in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. He received his doctorate in Engineering in 1975, and is currently a program director in a global energy company. He lives with his family in Maryland.

To read articles on Kashmir written by Dr. Sazawal, please visit IAKF's articles section (www.iakf.org, click on IAKF Articles), The Outlook Weekly (New Delhi) Website (www.outlookindia.com, click on Author name under “V” for Vijay K. Sazawal), or www.sulekha.com to view some of his earlier articles.