UK Has Historic Obligation To Mediate Between Pakistan, India On Kashmir: British MP

(@FahadShabbir)

UK has historic obligation to mediate between Pakistan, India on Kashmir: British MP

LONDON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Aug, 2019 ) :British member of the parliament (MP) Ivan Lewis has said that the British government had a historic obligation to mediate between Pakistan and India on Kashmir.

Ivan Lewis, in a letter addressed to United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, said,"The region of Kashmir has been the the epicenter of violent and territorial conflict for more than 70 years, since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947." Ivan Lewis told Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab,"As our newly appointed Foreign Secretary, you will, of course, understand that the British government has a historic obligation to help to mediate between Pakistan and India. You will be aware that first tension arose in Kashmir after the British colonial administration departed from the subcontinent, leaving the Kashmiri people within the jurisdiction of the new nation of India.

"At the time, the UK signed United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, a resolution which demanded that the Kashmiri people were given right of self-determination through a free ,fair and impartial plebiscite." Therefore, he reminded the foreign secretary, he must condemn the action of the Indian government of revoking Article 370 in the strongest term.

He said, "It's our moral obligation to speak out and in the first instance demand a peaceful resolution to the escalating situation" in Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK).

"I am deeply concerned by the Indian government's decision to revoke Article 370 of the Indian Constitution - stripping Kashmir of its carefully brokered autonomy, bifurcate the region and doing so, violate UN Council Resolution 39," he added.

He said the decision followed on from an orchestrated coup by Indian authorities, despite little parliamentary debate in New Delhi and more importantly, no participation from the Kashmiri politicians.

"Since Friday, the Indian government has moved thousands of troops into Indian held Kashmir and placed heavy restrictions on the daily life of its seven million residents. There have been alarming reports of some 400 local Kashmiri politicians being placed under arrest by Indian security forces. Hotels, guest houses, government and private buildings have been turned into makeshift jails to house the detainees," Ivan Lewis said.

He added that in the Indian occupied Kashmir there was a communication blackout with telephone and internet connections being shut off and all the public movements banned leaving the region in complete lockdown.

The British MP said the most concerning were reports that Indian authorities had used cluster ammunition against the civilians, leading to the death of two civilians, including a four-year-old child and over a dozen injuries.

Ivan Lewis said according to reports, in recent days, 38,000 Indian troops had been deployed to the region, in addition to the existing 700,000 occupation forces in the Indian occupied Kashmir.