Peace efforts must be redoubled for sake of people of Kashmir
September 14, 2008 7:15 PM
Liz Lynne at the Kashmir fringe event, with Paul Rowan MP, Qassim Afzal of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Kashmir, and Pakistani High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
LibDem MEP Liz Lynne has said all sides in Kashmir must concentrate their
efforts on peace if a way out of the current unrest is to be found. The
Euro-MP opened a discussion on the troubled region at her party's
conference in Bournemouth, where panellists included the Pakistani High
Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
Relative calm has prevailed in Kashmir in recent days, after a nine-day
curfew was lifted last week. This was imposed after some of the largest
rallies against Indian rule since the 1989 revolt. At least 40 protestors
have been killed, including Sheikh Abdul Aziz, a senior Hurriyat leader.
Liz Lynne MEP is a member of the European Parliament's Delegation for
Relations with the Countries of South Asia and the Human Rights
Subcommittee. She has campaigned for many years on the rights of the
Kashmiri people and co-authored a recent European Parliamentary resolution
on the need to investigate allegations of mass graves near the Line of
Control.
Speaking after the discussion, entitled 'Kashmir in the 21st Century', Liz
said:
"The rights of the Kashmiri people must be put first and Kashmiri people
need to be at the heart of the decision-making process if we are to see
the end of 60 years of conflict.
"If local people are allowed to decide their own destiny, and any decision
made is respected, they will be free to build a prosperous future for
themselves. This right to self-determination is one enshrined in the
Charter of the United Nations and something I have repeatedly called for
in the European Parliament, along with the appointment of an EU
facilitator to help this happen.
"This summer's violence in Kashmir makes it all the more urgent that we do
not sit back and let this conflict continue indefinitely, although we must
give credit to the Indian and Pakistani for their recent positive talks.
"India for its part must also improve its dire human rights record,
highlighted by the recent discovery of nearly a thousand unmarked graves
near the Line of Control, which have been linked to the thousands of
'Disappeared' in Indian-administered Kashmir in previous years.
"As mentioned in the European Parliamentary resolution I co-wrote, a full
investigation into these graves, and into the attacks on Parvez Imroz who
gathered evidence on them, must be conducted if the Indian authorities are
to regain any credibility in Kashmir and progress towards peace can be
made."
ENDS
Liz Lynne at the Kashmir fringe event, with Paul Rowan MP, Qassim Afzal of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Kashmir, and Pakistani High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
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