HIGHLIGHTING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IS REAL WEAPON Of KASHMIRIS: BRITISH MP

August 13, 2004 - (PNS) Kashmiris must have a united voice to highlight human rights abuses in Indian held Kashmir as it is their "real weapon" to internationalize the issue,said British MP Khalid Mehmood here late Wednesday.

The Labour Muslim MP from Birmingham told a select gathering here late Wednesday. It was organized by Chairman of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Kashmir Overseas Liberation Board Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Chishti to listen to views of a woman Kashmiri leader Shamim Shawl who returned here after attending a conference on Kashmir in Geneva. He supported the current peace process between Pakistan and India and billed it a "step in the right direction." Pakistan,he said, made "huge advances forward" to make India sit across the table to resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmir.

Khalid urged all the Kashmiris to have one and clear agenda to help plead their cause. India "has hijacked the issue of 9/11 and carried on the human rights abuses" in occupied Kashmir, he said.Kashmiris have the right to live a life without fear and torture, he said. The issue of human rights violations was recently taken up by him during his meeting with Indian High Commissioner in the UK. International human rights organizations, he said, should be allowed to visit occupied Kashmir to probe and determine who were those carrying out the human rights abuses there. Khalid called for effectively raising human rights violations particularly of women in occupied Kashmir at the European Union and International War Crimes Court.

The only British Pakistani member of Labour Central Executive Shahid Malik and prospective candidate from Dewsbury said on the occasion that he raised the Kashmir issue during a recent meeting of Labour party where British Deputy Prime Minister John Presscot was present. Malik said Kashmir was an issue for all political parties in the UK.The Labour party, he said, should go beyond its commitment of 1995 by considering about the next stage on the issue of Kashmir.

Malik said "the key thing was, how to internationalize the issue" and he called for new ways for pleading the cause of suffering Kashmiris. He stressed the need for engaging youth, particularly women to work for promoting the Kashmir cause. He said India claimed to be the biggest democracy but did not respect the civil liberties and British citizens were killed during recent riots in Gujrat.

Shamim Shawl on the occasion said Kashmiris would never remain with India because otherwise they would not have sacrificed over 80,000 people. There are one lakh twenty thousand orphans children and 20,000 women widows in Indian held Kashmir, with no one to take care of them. Mrs Shawl urged the international community to press India allow access to human rights organizations to provide help to such hapless Kashmiris.

Urging Kashmiris to have a commitment and conviction in their cause, Mrs. Sahwl said, despite injustices and oppressions struggling Kashmiris were not despondent. She urged British Kashmiris to engage with Non-Governmental Organizations in the UK to give them their side of the story with facts and figures. Prof. Sharif Baqa who has done a lot of research on the life of the Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allam Muhammad Iqbal, read out a poem highlighting the agony and sacrifices of the Kashmiris.
Maulana Yaqub Chishti said Pakistan would remain incomplete until the solution of Kashmir in line with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and its accession with Islamabad. Speaking on the occasion Pakistan's High Commission Community Welfare Counsellor Niaz A Butt said both Pakistan and India were moving towards peace. This is a very crucial time hence a unified stand on part of Kashmiris was of utmost importance. Niaz Butt said Kashmir was a life line for Pakistan. There cannot be lasting solution to the issue without taking into aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Prof. Nazir Ahmed Shawl and Executive Director of Kashmir Center here said Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani was holding the banner of Kashmiri people.

Ahmed said despite series of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) by Pakistan, no CBMs was taken by India inside occupied Kashmir as Kashmiris continued to be oppressed. India should have reduced presence of its troops there. He said Kashmiris were determined to continue the struggle until realization of their goal of self- determination and urged the Kashmiris not to listen to the Indian propaganda. Mayor of HighWaikem Mehboob Bhatti, in his brief remarks, said he had been working long for the cause of Kashmir and had written thousands of letters to British parliamentarians to highlight the cause. Mayor Highwakem Mehboob Bhatti, Prof.Sharif Baqa, Parveen Sheikh Dr. Sajjad Awan,Ajam Sheikh and others were present on the occasion.

From: http://www.paknews.com/flash.php?id=11&date1=2004-08-13