AJK president urges UK councillors to lobby for Kashmir issue settlement

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon the British government to fulfil its responsibility to resolve the Kashmir issue according to the aspirations of the people of the valley and urged the Kashmiri community of the UK to use their leverage for the solution of the problem.

Addressing a National Councillors' Conference organised by Faheem Kiyani, President Tahreek-e-Kashmir UK on the topic of “Brutal Lockdown and Demographic Changes in Kashmir”, he said the UK being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and forbearer of human rights has the responsibility to brief the others, permanent members of the council about the irredentism in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) and mounting humanitarian crisis in the region.

The event, first of its kind, participated besides others by elected members of over fifty members of different City Councils and Boroughs from across the UK was moderated by Uzma Rasool and also addressed by prominent Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Bhatt and Raja Faheem Kiani.

Speaking as chief guest of the event, Masood Khan urged the Kashmiri leaders to accelerate their efforts and mobilise British Parliamentarians through cohesive efforts to raise the issue.

“I appeal to you to mobilise public opinion in the UK and beyond by relating that in the last century it was a crime to be a Jew in Nazi Germany and now Muslims in India and Occupied Kashmir are facing the same persecution at the hands of BJP-RSS fascist regime,” Masood said.

The president exhorted the diaspora community leaders to play their due role in raising the Kashmir issue effectively in the British Parliament, civil society and the media and approve resolutions in their respective councils in favour of Kashmiris peoples’ inalienable right to self-determination and against Indian atrocities and monstrosities in IOJ&K.

Masood noted that many electoral constituencies in the UK have a strong Kashmiri population and the constituents can persuade their elected MPs in the British Parliament to help push the Kashmir issue forward for its peaceful resolution as the conflict has posed a serious threat to peace and security of the region.

“Your outreach within your councils and constituencies is very significant. It's time to work at the grass-root level to draw global attention towards the horrendous human rights situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir and stem the genocide taking place in the occupied territory,” he added.

Urging the elected representatives of the diaspora community to communicate with their lawmakers and write to FCO and 10 Downing Street, the president asserted that the UK government should be more firm when it comes to situation in IOJ&K and they should not hide behind the frivolous argument that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan.

Referring to the history of Kashmir freedom, Masood said Kashmiris have been fighting for the freedom and liberty for past 200 years but their plight became more complex after India's occupation of Kashmir in 1947.

“Kashmiris have been facing massacres and mayhem in the hands of the occupying army since India occupied the territory 73 years ago. A holocaust took place in 1947 leading to the brutal murder of 237,000 Muslim Kashmiris that resulted in a major demographic change in Jammu region of the occupied state, he said.

Now India, AJK president said, under the garb of double lockdown is transforming the demography in Kashmir valley. After the occupational lockdown the 700,000 troops present in IOJ&K were beefed up to 900,000 and there has been an incessant communication blockade across the occupied territory.

The reaction to the August 05 move of Indian government came from world parliaments, civil society and media, questioning the legitimacy of Indian action to colonise Kashmir and even United Nations called the communication blockades imposed by New Delhi in Occupied Kashmir as a tool to curb expression and other fundamental rights of the people.

But unfortunately, the reaction lasted only for three months partly because of Brexit in the UK, President’s Trump’s impeachment and later due to outbreak of Covid-19. However, he expressed his deep gratitude to the UK’s public opinion leader parliamentarians and the diaspora community for mobilising support for the oppressed Kashmiris by organising massive rallies and calling out human right crimes committed by India in IOJ&K.

Others who spoke on the occasion were, Cllr Zafar Islam Dudley, Cllr Sajid Mehmood from Nottingham, Cllr Khatejah Malik from Luton, Cllr Altaf Hussain from Oxford. Cllr Kashif Ch from Luton, Cllr Naveed Raja from Luton, Cllr Maqsood from Waltham Forest, Muhammad Hanif Raja from Glasgow, Qaiser Chaudhry from Chesham, Mehboob Hussain Bhatti from Wycombe,

Cllr Muhammad Ayun from Bolton, Liaqat Ali MBE from Waltham Forest, Cllr Nyer Nazir from Redditch, Cllr Aasim Rashid from Rochdale, Cllr, Shoukat Ali from Manchester, Cllr Aslam Khan from Loton, Cllr Shahida Mehrban from Hounslow, Cllr Munsif Dad from Hyndburn, Cllr Salma Mumtaz from Nottingham, Cllr Shazia Bashir from Peterborough, Cllr Khalid Hussain from Bury, Cllr Muhammad Idrees from Birmingham, Cllr Javeria Hussain from Luton, Cllr Jamila Azad from Oxford,

Cllr Mushtaq Ahmed from Red Bridge, Cllr Akhtar Hussain from Black Burn, Cllr Iram Ali from Newcastle, Cllr Asif Khan from Watford, Cllr Nighat Khan from Nottingham, Cllr Muhammad Saghir from Nottingham, Cllr Shakil Ahmed from Rochdale, Cllr Muhammad Iqbal from Bolton, Cllr Sehrish Loan from Burnley, Cllr Mushtaq Mughal from Newham, Cllr Fiaz Matloob from Slough, Cllr Hather Ali from Waltham Forest, Cllr Afrasiab Anwar from Burnley, Cllr M. Yaseen Hussain from Sandwell, Cllr M. Shahzad from Leeds and Cllr Sabina Dita from Wallsal.