Kashmir is not a territorial dispute: Lord Qurban

London, October 07 : The member of House of Lords, Lord Qurban Hussain has said that the Kashmir is not a territorial dispute but is one of British legacies and unfinished agenda of the partition plan.

Lord Qurban Hussain addressing the House of Lords on “Building Overseas Stability” said that it was India who took the matter to the United Nations in 1948 and the first UN Resolution of 13th August 1948 promised a plebiscite for the Kashmiris to decide about the future the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This was followed by many subsequent similar resolutions. Both India and Pakistan made numerous public pledges and statements honouring the promised Plebiscite.

The famous words of India’s first Prime Minister Pandat Jowaher Lal Nehru in this regard are part of the history when he said, “It will be the Kashmiris who will have the final say about the future of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and at the end even if they decided to stay separate from India we will swallow that bitter pill”, he added.

He said but those promises were never kept. Since then, India and Pakistan have gone to war three times over the issue. There have been many formal agreements including the Tashkent Agreement 1966 and the Simla Agreement 1972 when both countries agreed to resolve Kashmir through negotiations but they never did.

Lord Nazir welcomed the Building Stability Overseas Strategy as it clearly stipulates the importance of peace and stability overseas and its impact in the United Kingdom, and I thank Baroness Falkner for initiating this important debate.

He hope in pursuance of the strategy among other things, we will be able to bring an end to what is perceived by many in the outside world as double standards on our part when dealing with conflict zones. For example our active participation in response to situation in Iraq and Libya with lay back and semi neutral position in the case of Palestine and Kashmir, damages our credibility and reputation in the eyes of many, he maintained.

He reminded the House the Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest in the United Nation’s history. He said the Kashmir disptue goes back some 64 years, many people outside the Indian sub- continent have lost track on this and others may have forgotten about it.

He said Kashmir still remains one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world. India’s 700,000 armed forces with special powers given to them under the notorious Armed Forces Special Power Act are committing some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Killing, rape, arrests and torture are taking place regularly.

The Lord said the incident of Kanan Posh Pura where the whole village was rounded up by the Indian Army, the men and the boys were detained in the nearest army camp while girls from the age of 6 to elderly women to the age of 80 in the village were all gang raped by the forces. This and many other such cases are well documented and reported by the Indian Human Rights Organisations.

In the last twenty years, over a hundred thousand people have lost their lives. Tens of thousands have left their homes. Thousands have gone missing while 2800 mass graves have been identified with no knowledge of the victims. This needs an international Independent investigation, he added.

According to Amnesty International, he said, India is using draconian laws such as the Public Safety Act to arrest, torture and detain people from 2 years to more than 20 years. According to their report 16 to 20 thousand people have been arrested under this law.

The bilateral negotiations and so-called Confidence Building Measure between Pakistan and India have proved to be no more than minuet gestures which are often halted, derailed and discharged and are used as time passing exercise and nothing more as far as Kashmiris are concerned, he maintained.

“Given the importance and helpfulness of the Building Stability Overseas Strategy, could I ask the Minister how he thinks this strategy would help to resolve long-standing issues such as Kashmir and if the government would consider taking the dispute to the United Nations asking for implementation of the UN resolution on the issue?

Would he raise the human rights issue with his Indian counterpart at his next meeting and press for an international enquiry into the Mass Graves?
And finally, would he ask the Indian Government to repeal the notorious laws such as the PSA and the AFSPA and withdraw of the army from the residential areas to start with, and finally ask both countries for a complete withdrawal of their forces from the state to allow the Plebiscite to take place?”