The
Pakistan High Commission London, Jammu Kashmir Self-Determination Movement
International (JKSDMI) and All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Kashmir in
the British Parliament jointly organized a Conference in connection with the
Kashmir Black Day, which is observed on 27 October every
year against the illegal occupation of Jammu & Kashmir by India. The
Conference was held at the Portcullis House, London. Besides a large number of Kashmiri diaspora,
the Conference was attended by Pakistani and Kasmiri parliamentarians and human
rights activists who are actively working on resolution of the Kashmir issue,
says a press release received from London here today.
The
participants of the Conference condemned Indian atrocities and human rights
violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). They urged India to end
draconian laws in the IOK and meet its international obligation by giving the
Kashmiris their right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN resolutions.
Chairman
APPG on Kashmir Chris Leslie MP announced on the occasion that APPG on Kashmir
will initiate Parliamentary Enquiry into human rights violations in Indian
Occupied Kashmir from 14th December 2017 and
the report will be presented to the Parliament, British Government and the
United Nations.
Zahid
Hafeez Chaudhri, Deputy High Commissioner, in his remarks urged the
international community to come forward and play its role in immediate
cessation of massive violations of human rights in Kashmir, and ending the
impunity enjoyed by India’s security forces. He said that let there be no doubt
that India’s military occupation of IOK is illegal and the resolution of the
issue lies in the implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir. The Deputy
High Commissioner proposed to send a Fact Finding Mission of the UK Parliamentarians
to both sides of Kashmir so that they could know the real situation of human
rights abuses in IOK. Mr Chaudhri concluded that people and government of
Pakistan will continue to speak for the right to self-determination of the
Kashmiri people.
The Conference
was chaired by Barrister Imran Hussain MP Vice Chairman of All Party
Parliamentary Group on Kashmir in the British Parliament. Raja Najabat Hussain
Chairman JKSDMI briefed the Conference regarding the Kashmir Black Day and
urged British government to raise the issue at the UN Security Council and
other international forums to represent the one million British Kashmiri Community. Executive Director
Kashmir Media Services Sheikh Tajamal ul Islam presented a report on human
rights violations in IOK.
Parliamentarians
who attended the event included Lord Nazir Ahmad, Lord Qurban Hussain, Lord
Timothy Kirkhope, Shadow Treasury Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Foreign
Office Minister Liz McInnes MP, Shadow Justice Minister Barrister Yasmin
Qureshi MP, Naz Shah MP, Mohammed Yasin MP, Ruth Smeeth MP, Shadow Immigration
Minister Afzal Khan MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Mian Faisal Rashid MP, Jim McMahon MP,
Graham Jones MP, Gareth Jones MP, Jeff Smith MP and Andrew Gwynne MP.
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