ISLAMABAD – The British lawmakers, whom India denied a visit to Kashmir,stated on Wednesday that situation in the Occupied Valley had turned into aserious human rights issue, demanding all states under the United NationsCharter to notice and act.
Lawmakers Debbie Abrahams and Imran Hussain in a press conference alongwith Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office, calledfor animmediate response by international community to take urgent notice ofworseninghuman rights situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Debbie Abrahams, who chairs All Parties Kashmir Group, was deported fromDelhi a day ago for her open stance on the ongoing human rights situation inKashmir.
Abrahams said the group members would report back to their parties on Indiadenying the visit and Pakistan allowing for an independent monitoring of itsrespective side of Kashmir.
“We are not here for sight-seeing, but because that we are deeply concernedabout the human rights situation in Kashmir, and we are constantly raisingit,”she said.
She hoped that India would take the opportunity to reflect on Pakistan’sapproachto address the issue and allow visit of the group, which she said was “notanti-Indiaor pro-Pakistan, but pro-human rights”.
Abrahams, who led a delegation of British MPs in a meeting with the ForeignMinister here, stressed that international community needed to take theissue on priority and“make sure that human rights are not negotiable, regardless of religion,ethnicity,age and gender”.
She said the Resolutions of UN Security Council were still in place andrelevantfor the current Kashmir situation.
To a question on UK’s response on looming threat of genocide in IndianOccupied Jammu and Kashmir, she said the independent group did notrepresent the British government and could not speak on its behalf.However, she said the group had host of ways to draw attention to therelevant authorities in this regard.
“We as parliamentarians will lobby our governments towards the issue ofgeo-political significance as two nuclear powers [Pakistan and India] couldcome to loggerheads with each other,” she said.
Debbie Abrahams termed Kashmir a ‘longest running dispute’ which escalatedafter India’s action of revoking the Valley’s special status on August 5last year.
She mentioned the commitment of Pakistan government to resolve the issue,contrary to India’s attitude of not allowing international observers tomonitor thesituation.
Deputy chair of All Parties Kashmir Group MP Imran Hussain said the Kashmirissue wasnot limited as a bilateral matter between Pakistan and India, but became ahuman rights issue that needed serious attention by the world community.
He said if India had nothing to hide about the situation in Kashmir, theindependentgroup would have been allowed to visit the Occupied valley.
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He termed India’s Public Safety Act as “draconian and illegal”, saying itwas the moralduty of the world not to shy away from the issue”.
“We must help to assist and resolve the issue and the Indian governmentshould realize about its irresponsible role,” he added.
He said lockdown in Occupied Kashmir had made situation cumbersome forinnocent civilians who could not even contact their relatives on other sideof the Valley.Hussain said the UN Human Rights chief would also soon visit Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Qureshi said India had revealed its sham face ofsecularism and democracy by denying visit of an independent foreign groupon Kashmir.
He mentioned that All Parties Group of British parliamentarians presented acredible report on Kashmir situation in 2018, highlighting the ongoingatrocitiesby Indian security forces.
He expressed hope that House of Commons, European parliament and USCongress would raise voice, similar to Pakistan where the parliament twicepassed unanimous resolutions on Kashmir.
“The world’s parliaments should raise voice and back the international humanrights organizations speaking on Kashmir,” he said.
He expressed fear that the disputed area could become a nuclear flashpointwith high prospects of making a global impact.
To a question on slow progress on Kashmir’s resolution, he said thegovernment had revived the issue which was put on back-burner forseveral years.
“After 54 years, we have taken up the issue at UN Security Council and thus,a beginning has been made,” he said, adding that the recent statement of UNSecretary General Antonio Guterres about UNSC Resolutions of being stillrelevant today was a great endorsement of Pakistan’s stance.Qureshi dismissed a statement by Indian External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar who said only one of the two democracies would decide aboutthe fate of Kashmir, saying that decision by the “so-called democracy” hadalready been taken on August 5 which was rejected by Kashmiris.
“Today, a huge segment of population including Muslims and other minoritiescall the Citizenship Amendment Act a folly of India,” he said.
