Speakers at a two-day international peace conference which opened here on Monday fully backed Kashmiris right to self-determination and called for their involvement for a just solution of the Kashmir dispute.
The conference on the subject of "Towards Stability, Peace and Security in South Asia" has been organised by Kashmir Centre (London) in co-operation of Kashmir Centre (Brussels) and American Kashmir Council, Washington DC, which wrapped up its two sessions here late Monday.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, who is leading the delegation of special committee of National Assembly along with two other members MNA Raja Nadir Pervaiz and MNA Robina Shahid Watto, was present on the occasion.
In his keynote address, Lord Nazir Ahmed, while supporting Kashmiris right to self-determination, urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to appoint either former British prime minister John Major or former minister in his cabinet MP Robin Cook as special envoy on Kashmir.
He said it was necessary if Britain was serious in brining peace and stability in South Asia through a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.
Lord Ahmed called for a third party mediation or facilitation in resolving the Kashmir issue because Pakistan and India had never been able to solve any issue with out outside help.
He brushed aside the Indian propaganda of billing Kashmiris struggle as terrorism and said they were freedom fighters striving for their right to self-determination enshrined in the UN resolutions.
Lord Ahmed said no peace formula prepared either in New Delhi, Islamabad, London or Washington would work unless it was acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Appreciating the dialogue between Pakistan and India, he called for involvement of Kashmiris in talks, saying it was absolutely necessary to make progress towards a peaceful solution of the Kashmir. He said there could be no military settlement to the issue.
Speaking on the occasion, World Kashmir Freedom Movement president Ghulam N. Mir said Kashmiris were determined to sustain their struggle to pull down what he described as the wall of the Line of Control and added it was a "permanent dagger in our heart".
He said despite its torture, killing and maiming Kashmiris, India had not been able to break their will and they would continue their resistance.
In his opening remarks, executive director of Kashmir Centre Professor Nazir Shawl said everybody wanted to see a peaceful and just solution of the Kashmir issue but some hard knots needed to be untied.
He hoped the reconciliatory and flexible approach adopted by Pakistan would be responded by India.
The summit meeting between President General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister in New York on the fringes of the UN, he said, would help continue the talks between the two neighbours.
He read out the message of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the peace conference who expressed his good wishes for the success of the moot.
Shawl also read out the message given by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who said he shared concern of Professor Shaw about the region.
APHC chairman Syed Ali Geelani, who was not allowed by the Indian government to travel to London to attend the moot in his, audio address told the conference that everyday there had been deaths of Kashmiris at the hand of Indian security forces.