India urged to implement UN resolutions on Kashmir

Kashmir Black Day

India urged to implement UN resolutions on Kashmir

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 on 25 October 2017. 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.

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.