Sayeeda Warsi urges peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue

MIRPUR: Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a British cabinet minister of Pakistani-origin, has urged India and Pakistan to find a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Speaking at a reception hosted in her honour by citizens of Mirpur on Saturday, Warsi said that Britain would play its due role in ensuring an early resolution for Kashmir. “Over a million overseas Pakistanis, including about 0.7 million Kashmiri expatriates, are serving various sectors in the UK. Thus, the British government will extend its due assistance for progress and prosperity of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the education, health and social sectors.” Issues faced by students from AJK seeking higher education in the UK were being resolved, she said.

Warsi said that the people of Pakistan and AJK, including those who were living in the UK, had great expectations from her and that she would try her best to live up to them.

Earlier on Saturday, Baroness Warsi was accorded a rousing reception as she reached Mirpur. This is her first visit to the town and she is visiting for just one day. Her parents and husband Iftikhar Chaudhry, a UK-based Kashmiri expatriate, were also present.

Barrister Abid Hussain, a prominent UK-based Kashmiri expatriate leader, presided over the ceremony which was also addressed by British High Commissioner in Pakistan Adam Thomson and former AJK prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan. Speakers paid tributes to Warsi for her meritorious services in social, political and legal fields for the people of the UK, including Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriates.

Warsi visited her relatives in Mirpur and also went to Chakswari, the ancestral village of her husband on the outskirts of Mirpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.