A cross-party delegation of UK Parliamentarians led by Ms. Debbie Abrahams, Chairperson, All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group (APPKG), met with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office today.
The Foreign Minister appreciated the Group’s consistent focus on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute and the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation, with 8 million Kashmiris under an inhuman lockdown and communication blockade since 5 August 2019. He lauded the impact of the APPKG’s Report on Jammu and Kashmir issued in November 2018 and noted that, together with the two reports issued by the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in June 2018 and July 2019, it had helped raise international awareness about the human rights situation in an unprecedented manner. The Foreign Minister also lauded the role of Parliaments in key countries, international human rights and civil society groups, and international media in highlighting the plight of the Kashmiris and raising their voices of conscience against the atrocities being perpetrated in IOJ&K.
The Foreign Minister added that a lasting solution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute was essential for durable peace and stability in South Asia. India's refusal to peacefully resolve the Jammu & Kashmir dispute and persistent denial of Kashmiris’ right of self-determination continued to endanger regional as well as international peace and security. The Foreign Minister urged the Parliamentarians to continue playing their part in the British Parliament as well as internationally to highlight the Jammu & Kashmir dispute as the Kashmiri people had high hopes and expectations from them.
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