Jammu, Sep 25 (KNS): "United Kingdom member of parliament, Bob Blackman's statement on Kashmir in the British Parliament is an eye opener for Pakistan and the rest of the world", said Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, senior BJP & KP leader, Incharge: Deptt of political feedback, J&K-BJP. He was reacting to the statement made by Bob Blackman in the Lower House of UK parliament who was responding to a debate on the human rights situation in J&K.
He was speaking in the UK House of Commons in which he made a leoded statement saying that if India had withdrawn troops in Kashmir, Islamist forces would have come in and eliminated democracy in Kashmir. "Indian Army has stopped Kashmir from becoming Taliban’s Afghanistan. Kashmir has been tainted by multiple terrorist attacks, killings and forced conversions by radical Islamist terrorists. It is because of the Indian military that the region of Jammu and Kashmir hasn't resembled Taliban-occupied Afghanistan as yet".
The debate proposal was given by Parliamentarian Debbie Abrahams and Pakistan-origin MP Yasmin Qureshi. It may be noted here that an organisation with which Debbie Abrahams is associated was accused of receiving funding from the Pakistan government. Further, Abrahams was deported by India in February last year for travelling to the country on an invalid visa.
Bob said, "We should remember that while Kashmir Valley may be probably Muslim (dominated), Jammu is predominantly Hindu and Ladakh predominantly Buddhist. And the fact is, historically persecuted religious minorities of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, women and children have unfortunately suffered in the Valley". He pointed out categorically that it was because of the Indian Army that Kashmir had not become another Afghanistan. “It is only the Indian Army and the sound footing of the Indian military (and democracy) that has stopped the region of Jammu & Kashmir resembling Taliban occupied Afghanistan," asserting that "the region is legally and rightfully an integral part of the Republic of India”.
Chrungoo also appreciated what UK minister said in the debate. The UK Minister for Asia in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Amanda Milling, responded to the debate by reiterating the UK government's unchanged stance on Kashmir as a bilateral issue between India & Pakistan. The Minister, Amanda Milling, responded to the debate on Thursday by reiterating the UK government's unchanged stance on Kashmir as a bilateral issue. “The government takes the situation in Kashmir very seriously but it's for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political solution, ....It's not for the UK to prescribe a solution or to act as a mediator".
In this context, the representative of India in the UN very maturely replied to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's diatribe against India. The statement that 'Jammu and Kashmir was, is and would remain an integral and inalienable part of India' reflects the ground realities. It is time for Pakistan to vacate the illegally occupied parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh including Gilgit and Baltistan, as was rightly expressed by the Indian diplomat in the UNGA yesterday. (KNS)