Srinagar, Apr 16 (KNS): Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) engaged with the Commonwealth countries on the Kashmir issue.
In an open letter to the leaders of 54 Commonwealth nations attending their biennial meeting in London this week, the JKLF according to the statement issued to KNS urged the Commonwealth countries to constructively engage with India, Pakistan and Kashmiris for a durable and equitable resolution of the more than 70 year-long conflict over the status of Jammu Kashmir.
In a statement by the head of JKLF’s Diplomatic affairs professor Zafar Khan, the JKLF has urged the Commonwealth nations to set up a mediation panel to engage with India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris, for a durable and equitable resolution of the conflict.
The JKLF statement reminded the Commonwealth leaders that the JKLF had written to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Baroness Scotland in early December 2017 and urged her to ensure that the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting-CHOGM- to play a constructive role on the political status of Jammu Kashmir.
The amalgam reiterated its position that the people of Jammu Kashmir desired peace, and wished for their country to become a bridge of peace and amity between India and Pakistan, and not a perpetual bone of contention in South Asian.
However, the JKLF statement reminded the Commonwealth nations that the Jammu Kashmir conflict should not be seen as a bilateral or territorial dispute between India and Pakistan but as an international issue which concerns the unfettered right to self-determination of 20 million Kashmiris to determine their political destiny across both sides of the ceasefire line.
The JKLF reminded the Commonwealth leaders that as nuclear powers India and Pakistan, present a mortal danger to 1.5 billion people of South Asia, and the Commonwealth had an international and moral obligation to dis-engage both countries in Jammu Kashmir for the sake of peace and prosperity in South Asia and the world.
It reminded the leaders of the Commonwealth that India has no legal or moral basis for the claim that Jammu Kashmir is an ‘integral’ part of India and urged the leaders that India must answer for the 8000 missing persons, and more than 7000 unmarked graves in Indian occupied Jammu Kashmir and called on the Commonwealth family of nations to take note of the fact that Jammu Kashmir is the most heavily militarized region in the world, due mainly to the fact that India alone has deployed 700,000 troops there.
JKLF also said that these troops have killed over a 100,000 people in Jammu Kashmir during the past 30 years.
The JKLF statement called on the Commonwealth nations that the militarized violence, the massive violations of human rights, and victimization of political dissent in Indian occupied Kashmir must stop.
It added that the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) must not be deprived of its democratic right of free speech, of assembly and the right to engage with masses in all parts of Jammu Kashmir. “India must allow the UNHCHR access to Kashmir, to investigate excesses against civilians and political activists by Indian armed forces in the Kashmir valley and other parts of Jammu Kashmir,” the statement added.
Professor Zafar Khan has also called on the million plus Kashmiri Diaspora in Britain, to protest in London during the Commonwealth meetings, including against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and atrocities committed by Indian armed forces in Jammu Kashmir.
He said that the JKLF and its members will fully participate in the public protests including against Indian premier Narendra Modi along with other Kashmiris on his arrival in the UK. (KNS)