AJK President urges UK to raise Human rights abuses in IoK

MIRPUR: AJK President Sardar Masood Khan called upon United Kingdom to raise the human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IoK) before India.

United Kingdom in its capacity as the permanent member of the UN Security Council should play a leadership role in sensitizing the world body about the fast deteriorating security situation along the line of control, he added.

President Sardar Masood Khan urged during a session on Kashmir hosted at the House of Commons in London late Wednesday by the All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group (APPG) which was chaired by Honourable Chris Leslie, Member of the Parliament, says a message released to the media here on Thursday.

The APPG had also invited the IOK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to the hearing but she did not show up. The APPG supports the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through dialogue; seeks support from the British parliamentarians for the Kashmir cause; highlights the human rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir; and seeks justice for the people of Kashmir.

At the hearing, President Masood Khan pleaded for higher visibility for the Kashmir dispute in the British Parliament and underlined the need for international intervention through the UN for the resolution of the dispute.

The President said that India’s accusations of cross-LOC infiltration from Azad Kashmir were false and designed to hide its crimes against humanity in the IOK.

“There were no training camps or launching pads in AJK. This is India’s fabrication even as it boasts that it has erected a 550-kilometre long electrified fence connected to motion sensors, thermal imaging and lighting.”

Earlier, the President attended the Prime Minister’s Question Time at the House of Commons during which Prime Minister Theresa May responded to a series of questions.

Separately, Ambassador Ibne Abbas, Pakistan’s High Commissioner, hosted a lunch in the honour of the President which was attended by 10 British parliamentarians.

Fabian Uziell-Hamilton, Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament, and Khalid Mahmood, Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Europe), also jointly received President Masood Khan in their chamber and assured him of full awareness of the atrocities in the Occupied Kashmir. They said that though there was little articulation on the Kashmir issue at the government level, at the constituency level concerns about human rights abuses in IOK were deep.

They said that Kashmir was the most palpable issue in the UK despite lack of governmental action.

The President thanked the Labour Party for including commitment on Kashmir in its election manifesto and for trying to highlight the issue in the House of Commons. He appealed to the British Parliamentarians of all parties to raise the issue of Kashmir during the Prime Minister’s Question Time.