The Labour Party Peer Lord Nazir has underscored the need for participation of all Kashmiri parties, including the Mujahideen, in the peace talks leading to the settlement of Kashmir issue in an amicable way.
Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, he called for unity among the Kashmiri political parties on the question of right to self-determination, and said a unified voice of Kashmir carried a greater weight.
Expressing his concerns over the draft reportedly prepared on Kashmir by Baroness Emma Nicholson for the European Union Foreign Relations Committee, he urged the Kashmiris living in the United Kingdom and Europe to articulate their opposition to this report by writing to the members of the European Parliament. The Labour Peer said Ms Nicholson was absolutely wrong to link the Kashmir issue with water dispute. The issue, he asserted strongly, pertained to the right to self-determination.
Speaking before a large gathering of his supporters at the first UK convention of his party at Walthamstow Town Hall here on Sunday, Barrister Mahmood said the report was "debatable", as it was not based on the ground realities.
Asserting that the issue of Kashmir, related to the self-determination by the people, he said Baroness Nicholson had attempted to side step the reality by linking it with dispute over the water resources. Barrister Mahmood categorically stated that this was a deliberate distortion of facts, as the historic truth had not been mentioned in the draft report.
He further said that any solution of Kashmir must also involve the Kashmiri leadership, as without its participation, the dispute could not be resolved in an amicable way.
The former AJK premier praised the UK Kashmiri Diaspora for playing a key role in raising the Kashmir issue at every forum. He assured the participants that his party would continue to play its pro-active role in Azad Kashmir politics and for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue.
On this occasion, he announced the formation of convenors for the various parts of UK with regard to the re-organisation of the party, and said a central leadership would be set up eventually in UK to run the party on sound lines.
Earlier, Labour Party MP for Walthamstow Neil Gerrad, addressing the audience, said the UK had an important role to play in the solution of Kashmir issue. "Time has now come for the people of the region to decide their own future on the basis on self-determination," he added.
He was also critical of the draft report prepared on Kashmir by Baroness Emma Nicholson, saying the report had failed to mention the gross violations of human rights in the Indian-occupied Kashmir, which had been turned into a virtual prison.
Walthamstow Mayor Farooq Qureshi, who belongs to the Liberal-Democrat party, said the draft report on Kashmir by Baroness Emma Nicholson did not reflect her party's stand on Kashmir, which had called for the solution of the dispute according to the United Nations Security Council's resolutions.