Territory dispute: Lord Nazir calls for lasting solution of Kashmir dispute

Says AJK govt not giving proper attention to victims of LoC firing.

MUZAFFARABAD:

Former British parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed visited the areas near Line of Control (LoC) in Nakyal sector where persistent shelling by the Indian Army continues for the last two months. Lord Nazir also visited the camp of displaced persons set up in Nakyal and met them. 

Talking to The Express Tribune, Lord Nazir said that an emergency meeting of All Parties Parliamentarians Kashmir Group (APPKG) would be called to discuss the unprovoked firing of Indian army upon the population on the LoC.

Ceasefire violation is a matter of serious concern for the whole world community and APPKG in UK would pass a resolution to condemn the incessant shelling of Indian forces on the civil population, Lord Ahmed said.

He said international community and the United Kingdom should come forward to stop the Indian aggression on the LoC which may put the South Asian peace at stake.

Lord Nazir said that the Kashmir dispute must be resolved to bring tranquility in the region; further delay in that may push Pakistan and India towards a nuclear war.

The long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan is recognised by the United Nations (UN) resolutions and it is the moral duty of the global human rights bodies and forums to put pressure over Pakistan and India to settle the dispute once and for all to make South Asia peaceful and prosperous, Lord Nazir added.

Lord Nazir grilled the government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) for not paying proper attention to the victims of LoC firing in Nakyal camps.

He stated that the millions of rupees that the AJK government is collecting through Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Cell (JKLC) must reach the poor victims but the money is being used to benefit party workers and, ironically, a few ‘coordinators’ living in London are receiving regular salaries from the Cell, Lord Nazir observed.

The National Assembly (NA) of Pakistan has passed a resolution to condemn the Indian firing on LoC the AJK government has not summoned the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly session to condemn the unprovoked shelling of Indian troops on the civil population near LoC, Lord Nazir opined.

He further said that no one from the AJK government, not even Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, has so far visited to the firing-hit areas in the Nakyal sector, and that shows how sincere Majeed’s government is with the Kashmir cause and the people affected by the Indian firing.

Lord Nazir Ahmed said the AJK government has totally failed to rehabilitate the Mangla Dam affected people which is another example of the failure of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in AJK.

Regarding the concert conducted by Zubin Mehta in Srinagar on Saturday despite the Kashmiri people’s objections, Lord Nazir said it would allows Indians to mislead the world community that normalcy has returned to the disputed territory.

Prior to organising the concert, the Germans should have kept the disputed status of occupied Kashmir in mind and, obviously, the Kashmiris living across the globe are unhappy with this politically motivated agenda and New Delhi-backed concert would undermine the legitimate struggle of the right of self-determination, Lord Nazir Ahmed concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.