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Namaskaar!!
By
now, you must have read Sh. Hari Ji Bhat's election
notification wherein he had announced that I am one of
the two candidates running for the post of President
of KOA in the upcoming organizational elections.
I
would, first of all, like to thank the founding
members of our beloved organization for having the
vision and will to enshrine in its constitution the
democratic processes by which we elect our
office-bearers. It is this democratic process that I
strongly believe in and as such I am offering myself
as a candidate for the post of President of KOA.
Today,
I am writing to all of you with a humble request for
your kind support for my candidature as the KOA
President for the period 2007-2008.
MY
COMMITMENT TO KP CAUSE
My
commitment to KP causes goes back many many years.
Since early 1990, I have been involved in spreading
awareness about our community in various community
newsletters and bulletin boards. I was one of the
first community members to digitally record the plight
of KP refugees in Jammu and disseminate the same to
the policy makers here in US. [Please click http://www.SunilFotedar.com
to view these videos.]
It
was in 1996 when I realized that the new communication
medium of the Internet could be used to counter the
disinformation campaign against our community. At that
time, there were scores of websites owned and managed
by Kashmiri Muslims, spreading venom against our
community. I started working feverishly by putting out
as much information on the Internet as was physically
possible. I have scanned over 50 historical books
related to our community and converted those into
thousands of web pages after laborious scanning, proof
reading and editing.
Over
the period of last decade, I have created and
maintained about 25 Kashmiri Pandit-specific websites
[links are available at http://www.SunilFotedar.com]
covering almost all the aspects of Kashmiri Pandits:
culture, religion, heritage, history, political
literature, etc. I have also built websites for
several Kashmir Pandit organizations and their
publications, both here as well as in India. I have
spent numerous hours every weeknight and over weekends
for several years to build these community websites.
It has all been very manual and time-consuming but
each and every minute of my labor has been worth it
because it has served the causes of our community –
the community I love.
MY LONG
ASSOCIATION WITH KOA
I have been officially associated with KOA
for the last 15 years. Some of the key facets of my
long association with KOA are:
- Chapter
President in Houston, Texas in 1991;
- During
1996-2000, worked actively with the then KOA
President Sh. Lalit Ji Wanchoo to develop KOA's
Internet identity websites KOAUSA.Org and Kashmir-Information.Com.
At that time, these sites were regularly available
as Kashmir information links on popular news
websites like BBC, CNBC, and CNN.
- Administered
KPNet - the first electronic forum to keep the
Kashmiri Pandits connected.
- Provided
“Thought Leadership” in exploiting Internet to
document KP History and Culture.
- Supported
various KOA programs, financially as well as by
volunteering my time.
OUR
AGENDA
I
strongly believe in setting realistic goals that can
be achieved. I also believe in complete transparency
and accountability. Some of the key priorities that I
will immediately deal with are:
- Create
an “Inclusive KOA” and an involved
KP community that will be proud of its achievements;
- Focus
relentlessly on our children and youth
in the US;
- Improve
organizational structure and bylaws to reflect the
needs of the present;
- Eradicate
divisiveness
within the community that has not been yet
addressed;
- Develop
beneficial alliances with
like-minded organizations to serve our causes and
interests;
- Start
a KOA endowment with the ultimate
goal of raising $1M to support KOA programs;
- Build
upon the existing programs but also create
new programs to meet the newer challenges
that our community faces; and
- Communicate,
Communicate, Communicate
- truthfully and honestly, to the
community under all circumstances.
In
present circumstances, our community here in US badly
needs a UNIFIER. Over the years, through my community
service, I have built relationships with a large
cross-section of our community and thus I am confident
that I can be that UNIFIER. I represent the passion
and work ethics that promises
as well as delivers. I represent the
way of thinking that thinks outside of the box and
tunes itself to the dynamically changing needs of the
community. I represent the beliefs that we got to be
rooted in our “roots” but at the
same time got to provide and breathe “fresh
air”. I represent “Change” and
a breath of “Fresh Air”.
MY PLEDGE
Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke
on February 5, 1675, wrote:
"If I have seen further, it is by
standing on the shoulders of giants."
And
that is true of me as well. I have learned a lot from
many Kashmiri Pandit leaders and community members
that I have come in contact with. I am humbly grateful
to each and every one of them for their valuable
insight, guidance, and moral support.
At this time, I would like to request you for your
kind support and vote. I publicly pledge
that:
- I
will do my best, within my means, to live up to your
expectations and deliver the goods
with complete fairness, honesty and
transparency.
- I
will draw on the experiences of those who have so
honorably served KOA and our community.
- With
a team of dedicated individuals and fresh ideas, I
will make KOA a vibrant organization that the whole
community will be proud of.
- I
will be the unifier that this
community badly needs.
In the coming days, I will present our common vision
and agenda with more details to all of you. I will
further explain to you what I stand for and how we
together can make a difference in our community and
why I deserve your support and vote.
In
conclusion:
Together, we can build OUR community.
Together we can create OUR destiny.
Let us do it TOGETHER.
Let us march TOGETHER towards our cherished goals.
Sincerely,
Sunil Fotedar
Candidate
for KOA president
24427 Flint Creek
San
Antonio, TX 78255
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