LONDON – British members of Parliament (MPs) and other speakers here at aseminar on Tuesday night asked India to stop genocide, gross human rightviolations, and atrocities on the defenceless people of Indian OccupiedJammu and Kashmir (IOK) and give them their inalienable right ofself-determination.
An overwhelming support and solidarity with the Kashmiri people waswitnessed among the audience of the seminar on ‘Kashmir Human Rights’organized by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Third WorldSolidarity here at the British Parliament.
Dave Anderson Chairman, Lit Twist MP, Victoria Schofield, Lord QurbanHussain of Luton, Kumar Sarkar (Indian), Ahlam Akram, Habib Jan, Anis Nasirand Mushtaq Lasharie spoke on the occasion.
Attendees from many communities across the United Kingdom included in APPGon the Third world Solidarity on Kashmir Angela Rayner MP, Tony Llord MP,Ian Murray MP, Sam Terry MP, Tan Deshi MP, Kevin Hollinrake MP, BobBlackman MP, Barry Gardiner MP, David Amess MP, Kumar Sarkar, an IndianHindu, Saundra Satterlee journalist from the United States, Ahlam AkramPalestanian, Councillor (Cllr) Rita Begum, Murad Qureshi, member of GLAfrom Bangladesh, Prof Victoria Goddard Argentinian, Julie Fox French, DrKathey Saugy Argentanian academemics, Ruaidri O Donnel Adviser to TonyLloyd MP on Ireland, Christopher MCHugh and many other British Pakistanisand Kashmiris, and human rights activists.
The speakers urged India to end lockdown and siege of the Kashmiri people,who had been demanding their right to self-determination, which waspromised by the United Nations to them about seven decades ago.
Lord Qurban, who belongs to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), said the Indiangovernment, under its Armed Forces Special Act, had given a licence to itsoccupation forces to arrest and kill the people of IOJK.
The honour of women in Indian occupied Kashmir was not safe as thousands ofthem had been raped by the occupation troops, he said, adding even youngboys of below 12 years of age were picked up from their houses and next daytheir dead bodies were thrown out.
Most of the women in the IOJK were half widows as the whereabouts of theirhusbands, who were picked up by occupation forces, were not known, he added.
Lord Qurban said some 30,000 Kashmiri people had been put behind the bar.Freedom movement leader Shabbir Shah had been in prison for the past 25years.
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He said Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party government, which waspursuing the fascist and extremist ideology of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) had made the lives of Muslims and other minorities across India andoccupied Kashmir miserable.
He said India’s move to abrogate Articles 35A and 370 of the constitutionwas illegal which was aimed at changing the demographic composition of theIOJK and making the indigenous Muslim population a minority in theirhomeland.
He demanded the international community, including UK, to pressurize Indiafor allowing human rights organizations to visit the IOJK for ascertainingon the ground rights abuses there. There was no restriction for suchorganizations to visit the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
Chairman of Third World Solidarity Mushtaq Lasharie called for theimplementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir. He asked the participantsto write letters to the UK government for putting pressure on the Indiangovernment to stop atrocities on the eight million Kashmiris, who had beenunder siege for the last five months. He questioned that if the UN SecurityCouncil resolutions had been implemented on Iraq then why not the samecould be done in case of Kashmir.
Victoria Schofield said due to the complete lockdown, the people of Indianheld Kashmir were facing a shortage of food and medicines while thestudents were unable to attend their educational institutions.
Kumar Sarkar strongly criticized the BJP government policies based on thefascist Hindu ideology of caste system, which was total negation of liberalpolicies of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
