Our Correspondent
Mirpur (AJK)
Azad Jammu Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has urged British Parliamentarians and the British civil society to have a dialogue with 10 Downing Street, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) over the deteriorating situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that that the UK government should avoid diplomatic escapism and not term the Kashmir dispute as a bilateral issue. The President made these remarks while addressing a webinar titled ‘Twin Lockdown in Kashmir and Global Response’, organized by Tehreek-e-Kashmir-UK on Saturday, AJK President office told media on Saturday. The event was attended by academics and leading Members of Parliament belonging to the Conservative, Labour, SNP and Lib-Dem.
Sardar Masood said that concrete steps should be taken to help stop the egregious human rights violations, killings, torture, rape and incarcerations taking place under the twin lockdown imposed in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Labour MP Liam Byrne said that the UK has to drop the pretence that this disputed issue must be resolved bilaterally. There should be impartial third-party amediation for the resolution of the issue in accordance with the UN SC resolutions on Kashmir. He added that there is a risk of war if the situation escalates amongst the two neighbours. He also condemned the growing sectarian polarization in India and termed it as a degradation of the secular character of India.
MP Nadia Whittome (Labour) demanded the withdrawal of troops and an end to human rights violations in IOJK. She also said that Articles 35-A and 370 should be immediately restored. MP Stella Creasy from the Labour Party vowed to raise the issue of Kashmir with parliamentarians from all parties.
MP James Daly, Chairman Conservative Friends of Kashmir, Vice-Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group in Kashmir committed to standing for the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people. MP Jim McMahon (Labour) said that despite the fact that almost one year has come to pass since the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had released its second report on Kashmir on July 8, 2019, no progress has taken place and instead the situation has deteriorated even more.
The AJK President in his address said that the situation n IOJK is fast deteriorating and there is a humanitarian and human rights crisis. Referring to the recent Sopore shooting incident where the 65-year-old Bashir Ahmed Khan was martyred by CRPF personnel and images of his 3-year-old grandson wailing atop his bloody lifeless body as a harrowing reminder of the atrocities taking place in IOJK.
