Daily Times

Kashmiri diaspora response has helped in updating and equipping the Labour Party on the British stand at the UN Security Council. JKCHR response has highlighted that United Kingdom in fact was the first country which proposed a time table for holding a UN supervised vote in Kashmir.

The Kashmiri response has highlighted that United Kingdom (Mr. Noel Baker) at the 284th Meeting of the UN Security Council held on 17 April 1948 has stated, “that the Kashmir dispute is the greatest and gravest single issue in international affairs” and further stated, “May I now say why I hope its measures may find favour with both parties to the dispute, and may find it without prolonged delay. To begin with, the sands of time, in literaI truth, are running out. Kashmir is a land of mountains. In October the snow begins to fall. If the plebiscite which both sides desire is to be held this year, the Commission and the administrator must be at work within a month. The alternative is a summer, perhaps another winter, of uncertainty, maybe of fighting, with all that that would mean.”

British position at the UN Security Council “that the Kashmir dispute is the greatest and gravest single issue in international affairs” and that since snow would fall by October, the”Commission and the administrator must be at workwithin a month” to hold a Plebiscite by October 1948, refuted the Indian diaspora claim that Kashmir was in any manner an ‘internal matter” of India.

Indian diaspora has very cleverly rubbed in, a sense of fear on account of threat to ‘community harmony”, something that could perturb any political party in Britain. The Indian diaspora letter states, “We are also hugely concerned about the wider attempts to bring the Kashmir issue into the domestic politics of the United Kingdom, which has serious ramifications for community harmony. We have already witnessed the horrendous scenes and arrests outside the Indian High Commission on 15 August 2019”.

Temporarily the Hindutva outlets have unnerved labour Party by serving this direct threat and attempting to black mail the labour Party, during a very crucial time of General Election

Kashmiri diaspora has argued its case and squeezed all merit out of Indian scare mongering. The response filed by JKCHR states, “We respect the views of Indian diaspora on the question of ‘good community relations’. It has to be in equity and not at the cost of a political blackmail. In fact JKCHR has raised the issue of good community relations at our Round Table Conference held on 4 May 2017 in Islamabad. We were well ahead (and more inclusive) of Indian Community on the question of “community harmony”. JKCHR highlighted at the Round Table Conference that “Images of Indian atrocities against Kashmiris are a threat to good community relations in Europe, US, Middle East and many other countries of the world”.

The five recommendations adopted at the RTC and The Concept Paper circulated were submitted to the UN Secretary General and are contained in UN GA Document A/HRC/35/NGO/132

Government of India has taken its fight beyond Kashmir, out in the open in the United Kingdom. The Kashmiri diaspora response has assisted the Labour Party in advising it that, “It is unfortunate that these groups of Indian diaspora, should act to further the Hindutva programme of RSS and misrepresent the situation in Kashmir. Their concern for ‘community harmony’ is a camouflage and you should consider to examine the merits of their sinister dig at the Labour Party. In fact the letter is an offence to ‘community harmony’ and people like us who work for the promotion and protection of human rights, find the misrepresentation on Kashmir very offensive.”

Kashmiri diaspora has urged the Labour Party chairman to “continue to keep the traditions as an ‘internationalist party’ and defend the dignity of the stand taken by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee and British Government on Kashmir.

The author is President of London based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations