Annual Kashmir EU week commences
BRUSSELS: In conjunction with the European Parliament All Party Group for Kashmir, the Kashmir Centre Brussels has dedicated the 6th Annual Kashmir EU Week to “3 Dimensions of Kashmir”.The 6th annual Kashmir EU Week was inaugurated by Sardar Attique Khan, the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, in front of an audience of MEPs, NGOs, think tanks, human rights organisations and delegates from permanent representations to the EU.
A press released issued by the Kashmir Centre Brussels said that the event sought to explore water exploitation, trade and environment in Indian occupied Kashmir on account of the continued conflict.
Among others, speakers included Sardar Attique Khan, the AJK Prime Minister, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, who also hosted the event, James Elles MEP, Chairman of The All Party Group for Kashmir in the European Parliament (APGK), Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo, Chairman of the Kashmir Centre Brussels, Richard Howitt, MEP and Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, the Executive director of Kashmir Centre London.
In the opening speech Timothy Kirkhope highlighted that a solution to the Kashmir dispute should be sought at all levels and noted that the UK had a special interest in the region and the issue. He expressed his concern that after 63 years it seemed that a solution was no closer than it had been in the past.
Barrister Tramboo highlighted that 118 deaths had been inflicted on Kashmiri youth by Indian military and paramilitary forces in occupied Kashmir in recent months and dedicated the week to those fallen youths. He debated upon the 3 dimensions of the Kashmir conflict highlighting that in occupied Kashmir only 14 percent of the generated hydroelectricity remains in territory with the rest being exported to India.
After noting the environmental degradation caused by the hundreds of thousands of Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir, he highlighted how the conflict was suppressing the economy in territory with considerable restrictions upon trade between the two parts of Kashmir.
He hoped that the 6th annual Kashmir EU Week would keep human rights violations in occupied Kashmir at the very top of the agenda in Brussels until a resolution was found to the Kashmir issue.
While inaugurating the event Sardar Attique Khan discussed the relevance of the 3 dimensions that were on display with regard to the ongoing struggle of the people of occupied Kashmir. He praised the work of the Kashmir Centre. EU and the APGK in highlighting the Kashmir struggle at the European Institutions and beyond.
He discussed how the solution to the Kashmir issue has to be, by its very nature, a political one. After discussing the ongoing human rights abuses he highlighted the need for the European Union to do more with regard to solving the problem in IHK.
James Elles MEP in his closing remarks stated the international security issues of failing to resolve the Kashmir issue noting that Kashmir is surrounded by three nuclear powers. Mentioning the upcoming Global Discourse on Kashmir that will take place in 2011, he hoped that the APGK and KCEU would succeed in having participation from a range of intergovernmental organisations including and the United States. He pointed out that the Kashmir EU week is now a “permanent feature” of the European Parliament and acts as an awareness process to inform those within the European Institutions.
Once again the “Chakoti Bridge” model, which was placed in centre of the two sets of models of the Indian Held Kashmir and Azad Jammu and Kashmir symbolized the importance increasing cross LOC contact. MEPs once again joined their hands with Barrister Tramboo and the AJK Prime Minister over the model. The hope was renewed that this symbolic gesture would aid the future peace and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict.-SANA
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