Kashmiris plan ‘million march’ against India in London

LONDON: British Kashmiris are planning to hold a ‘Kashmir Million March’ on 26 October here to highlight the grave human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir and to call on Britain to play its role in helping the occupied Kashmiris obtain their legitimate right of self-determination.
Former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry is visiting various cities of the UK and holding public meetings for the march through central London which will walk from Trafalgar Square to Number 10 Downing Street where a petition will be presented to Prime Minister David Cameron.
In an interview with The News, Barrister Sultan said he was confident that the march will be “historic” and will “expose India’s barbaric face to the world”.
Although several Kashmiri religious and political parties, including the nationalist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, are supporting this march, Barrister Sultan is leading the effort for this march and has been campaigning for it for over three weeks now in London, Bradford, Birmingham and Manchester. Of an estimated 1.3 million British Pakistanis, nearly 800,000 are originally from Azad Kashmir, mainly from Mirpur and the adjacent areas. Barrister Sultan has a huge following amongst British Kashmiris.
“The response we have received is tremendous. Kashmiri community in Britain is very charged especially after the recent Scottish referendum and the parliamentary vote in favour of recognising the state of Palestine. These are huge steps forward and our communities played a massive role in these campaigns. They are very conscious of the fact that their own motherland Kashmir is under the worst kind of Indian occupation. They want to help Kashmiris get freedom from Indian tyranny.”
Barrister Sultan said that coaches will reach London from over a dozen cities. Speeches will be made at the Trafalgar Square and then the marchers will move towards 10 Downing Street where another rally will be held outside PM David Cameron’s residence. He said Sikh organisations and many human rights groups have also assured of their support for the march.
Barrister Sultan said that the ‘million march’ will help highlight the longstanding Kashmir issue and help stop grave human right violations in Indian held Kashmir where over 100,000 innocent civilians have been killed. He said that Kashmiri organisations have decided to carry on campaigning at the public level in Britain and Europe to exert pressure on India for the resolution of Kashmir issue as per wishes of the Kashmiri people and to stop severe human right violations of Kashmiris by India.
Barrister Sultan said that India has done everything it can to suppress the indigenous and peaceful movement of the Kashmiri people but India’s draconian measures have failed to dampen the spirit of Kashmiris. He said it was a scandal that India has committed genocide in Kashmir but the world powers pay no attention to this fact and remain more interested in doing business than helping to protect the rights of Kahmiris. He said that Kashmiris were in favour of dialogue between the India and Pakistan but wanted to be part of this dialogue. “Talks cannot succeed about other issues unless the issue of Kashmir is made central part of these talks, its important to resolve Kashmir issue to establish peace between the two countries as well as in the region.”
Barrister Sultan and Andrew Griffiths MP, chair of the All Parities Kashmir Committee in the House of Commons, will also address a press conference in the British parliament ahead of the march.