Dr. Nazir Gilani
President JKCHR
There is no merit in the argument that the world does not talk about Kashmir because India has a broad spread of market of interests to offer to various countries of the world. We just want to sit back and take refuge behind this self-serving argument.
One can dismiss this fragile argument by the fact that a debate took place in the House of Commons in the British Parliament on 13 January on the “political situation in Kashmir”. The merits of this debate could be queried on the basis of statements made by around twelve Members of parliament which included the Chair and a Minister.
Our lack of input was floating on the surface of the debate. No member addressed the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir as “Indian Occupied”, while as Barry Gardiner MP from (Brent North) (Lab) referred to Azad Kashmir as “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir” and more so called it “a satrapy”. He quoted Delhi based The South Asia Terrorism Portal and said “that of the 42 identified terrorist training camps located in Pakistan, 21 were located in Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.” No Member of Parliament seemingly on our side, was able to counter this allegation with a reference from the two UN Reports on Kashmir or from a myriad number of JKCHR documents released by the UN Secretary General as UN GA Documents on Kashmir.
Three members of parliament Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab), Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab) and Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con) used one each time the word “self-determination” in their statements. If we dither even after the Indian action of 5 August 2019 in remaining loyal to our core issue of self-determination, we shall be rightly blamed for giving “all to India on a silver platter”.
Government of Indian has lied in passing its notification of 28 February 2019. It states that “The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of Jammu and Kashmir Government regarding amendment to the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) order, 1954 by way of the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Amendment Order 2019”. The Assembly was dissolved on 21 November 2018 and there was no elected Government in place in February 2019. The administration was run directly from Delhi by an appointee of the President of India. We failed to move into an action from 2018 until February 2019 and through to 5 August 2019.
We should have pulled down the heavens and roof of the United Nations, alerted our friends all over the world, pointing out that the notification on 35A was a serious violation of UN Resolutions on Kashmir, a violation of the agreement between Government of India with the people of Kashmir and a violation of the agreements between India and Pakistan. No single Member of Parliament during the debate on 13 January 2021 pointed out that it was a breach of the assurance given by Prime Minister of India to the Prime Minister of Britain on 26 October 1947.
