Islamabad :Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani in a letter to Ian Lavery, Member British Parliament and Chair Labour Party, thanked the Labour party for addressing Kashmir correctly at its conference, says a press release issued here Saturday.
“I am writing as a British of Kashmiri origin and as President of JKCHR - NGO in special consultative status with the UN, in relation to the concerns expressed by members of Indian Diaspora in their letter of 14 October addressed to the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn on “emergency motion on Kashmir passed at this year’s Labour Party conference” and your response of 11 November 2019 as Chair of the Labour Party. I have consulted a vast majority of Kashmiri Diaspora living in the United Kingdom and they associate themselves with the contents of this letter. The “emergency motion on Kashmir’ stands to dignify the history of the Party as an internationalist party, that has continued to ‘promote and protect’ human rights, all over the world and more so as retained in paragraph 4 and 5 of the telegram by Labour Leader and Prime Minister Clement Attlee to Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan on 22 November 1947.
“We respect the views of Indian diaspora on the question of ‘good community relations’. It has to be in equity and not at the cost of a political blackmail. In fact JKCHR has raised the issue of good community relations at our Round Table Conference held on 4 May 2017 in Islamabad. We were well ahead (and more inclusive) of Indian Community on the question of “community harmony”.
He said JKCHR highlighted at the Round Table Conference that “Images of Indian atrocities against Kashmiris are a threat to good community relations in Europe, US, Middle East and many other countries of the world”.
Dr Gilani said that the five recommendations adopted at the RTC and The Concept Paper circulated were submitted to the UN Secretary General and are contained in UN GA Document A/HRC/35/NGO/132.
“India has re-aggressed, occupied and imprisoned our brothers, sisters and elderly on 5 August 2019. Indian army is in violation of 4 bilateral and 3 UN restraints placed on their number, behaviour and location. Over 900000 Indian soldiers are engaged in a war with the people of Kashmir, known to UN for the last 72 years and described as, “ …the people of Jammu and Kashmir , who are worthy of the right of their own self-determination through a free, secure and impartial plebiscite. They are a people of legend, song and story, associated with snow-capped mountains, beautiful valleys and life giving waters”. (570th meeting of UN SC held on 17 January 1952),” he added.
He said that it was unfortunate that these groups of Indian diaspora, should act to further the Hindutva programme of RSS and misrepresent the situation in held Kashmir. Their concern for ‘community harmony’ is a camouflage and you should consider examining the merits of their sinister dig at the Labour Party. “In fact the letter is an offence to ‘community harmony’ and people like us who work for the promotion and protection of human rights, find the misrepresentation on Kashmir very offensive. I join all other British voters of Kashmiri, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian origin, and the broad constituency of voters from other countries, who sympathise with the sufferings of the people of Kashmir and have testified in the British Parliament, European Parliament, US Congress, in wishing Labour Party, the best in the December Elections. Therefore we ask you to kindly continue to keep the traditions as an ‘internationalist part’ and defend the dignity of the stand taken by Clement Attlee and British Government on Kashmir, as explained above,” said Dr Gilani.