UK MPs for resolving Kashmir issue

 

LONDON: A number of British Parliamentarians taking part in the House of Commons debate on Pakistan and Afghanistan highlighted the importance of easing tension between Pakistan and India by resolving the Kashmir dispute.

 

British MPs from all major political parties including Sir Gerald Kaufman, Mohammad Sarwar, Denis Mac Shane, Adam Holloway and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Quentin Davies called for reducing the current tension between two nuclear-armed neighbours with a view to resolving the Kashmir dispute and stabilizing Afghanistan.

 

The debate was attended, among others, by Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague.

 

Veteran parliamentarian and former Labour Foreign Secretary Sir Gerald said: “We must do all we can to make it a top priority to solve the world’s oldest unresolved dispute of Jammu and Kashmir”, adding that Britain needs to do “much more” to put it high on the international agenda.

 

Lamenting on the Indian criticism of Foreign Secretary Miliband’s remarks about Kashmir, Sir Gerald warned that not paying serious attention to Kashmir resolution will be a “prime strategic error”.

 

He said that the issue is extraordinarily important on the human level also. The Manchester MP was of the view that a Kashmir settlement is imperative owing to “all the strategic reasons for which Britain is in Afghanistan”, saying that resolution of Kashmir dispute will also eliminate the risk of “unnecessary military confrontation” between the two nuclear-armed countries, apart from reducing what he called as the waste of resources on military spending by them.

 

MP Mohammad Sarwar said that British government should help Pakistan and India in resolving the Kashmir conflict, underscoring that the settlement was also an essential part of the roadmap to a stabilized Afghanistan.

 

He expressed hope that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Foreign Secretary Miliband and the US President Barack Obama will work with the Governments of the region to build a stable and peaceful South Asia.

 

Denis MacShane flayed the atrocities being committed by Indian troops in the Held Kashmir as well as the militaristic and jingoistic postures of India toward Pakistan, urging Britain to persuade India to de-escalate tension.

 

Referring to President Obama’s idea of absolute hyphenation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and expressing support for Secretary Miliband’s comments on Kashmir, Denis said it was time the British politicians stop shying to discuss Kashmir.

 

Adam Holloway of the Conservative Party said that Britain should help reduce tension between India and Pakistan as this will let Pakistan focus on counterinsurgency and engagement in its tribal areas. Parliamentary Defence Under-Secretary Quentin Davies said that the whole House accepts the fact that the resolution of Kashmir will ease tension between India and Pakistan which will in turn help Pakistan “disentangle” itself from Afghanistan.

 

 

APP - Feb 7, 2009