India, Pakistan urged to soften stance on Kashmir

LONDON: Pakistan and India have been urged to climb down from their hardened positions on Kashmir and take concrete steps towards the resolution of one of the world’s oldest dispute.
At a seminar titled “India Pakistan peace process: The way forward” in the House of Commons here, speakers said a whole generation had been lost to militancy and violence and there seemed no end in sight to the dispute which has robbed both South Asian countries of their vast material resources and the loss of human rights and lives of Kashmiris.
The event was sponsored by MP Simon Danczuk and Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies in collaboration with International Pahari Literary Society and International Center for Peace and Democracy.
Keynote speakers included MP Andrew Stephenson, Chairperson of All Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan; Senge Hasnan Sering, President of Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies, MP Paul Uppal; Lord Qurban Hussain, MP Yasmin Qureshi; MP Simon Danczuk; Dr Nazir Gilani, Secretary General of Jammu & Kashmir Council of Human Rights; Mumtaz Khan, Executive Director of International Center for Peace and Democracy; UKPNP president Usman Kayani and Councillor Ali Adaalat, Executive Director of International Pahari Literary Society.
MP Simon Danczuk said that issues of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are very fundamental to the interests of the British parliamentarians and called for creating peace, encouraging cooperation and finding solutions to bring India and Pakistan closer.
Lord Qurban urged India to end human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and don’t shy away from United Nation’s resolution on Kashmir. He said the discovery of mass graves and continuing disappearances of Kashmiris in Indian occupied Kashmir was a scandal. He also demanded that Pandit community should be enabled to return to their homeland.
Yasmeen Qureshi asked all South Asian countries to initiate free trade agreements and urged India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue to bring peace.
MP Andrew Stephenson asked Pakistan to improve its judicial system and ensure that rule of law and democracy prevails in the country. He said the law and order breakdown in the country and the harassment of visiting British Pakistanis by the police was discouraging both the foreign visitors and investors from visiting Pakistan.
Senge Sering talked about extending CBMs on Kashmir to Gilgit-Baltistan. He requested both India and Pakistan to open LOC for trade between Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan. He said that more than 10,000 Ladakhis living in Gilgit-Baltistan demand resumption of travel to Ladakh on humanitarian basis.
Travel between Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan will help revive secular culture and help counter terrorism and communalism in the region, he said. Jammu Kashmir Commission for Human Rights Secretary General Dr Syed Nazir Gilani said that the title of the people of Kashmir to self-determination as equal people has been endorsed not only by India and Pakistan but all member nations of the UN stand committed to it.
Kashmiris living in all the three administrations of Kashmir and the Diaspora should pool their efforts in the realisation of this right. He expressed his deep anguish on the death of a generation in Kashmir and regarded it as the death of self-determination.
Mumtaz Khan talked about empowering local people of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and redefining relationship between Kashmir and Pakistan to ensure long term peace in the region. He said that AJK issues are overshadowed by the narratives suitable to the dominate political parties. He alleged that militants were very much responsible for human rights violations in Kashmir.
Ali Adalat urged Pakistan to drop its inclusive religion-focussed policy on Kashmir. He condemned demographic change and rising sectarian violence in Gilgit-Baltistan and called for the protection of vulnerable religious minorities in the region.
Krishna Bhan talked about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and called them victims of communalism. She said that Pandit refugees have been living in camps outside Kashmir Valley since 1989 after militants engineered their “exodus and genocide”.