Westminster Conference Endorses Kashmiri, Sikh and Naga Self-Determination

Honorary Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of Nagalim to the US Grace Collins and Dr.P.S. Ajrawat: Helping Ambassador Grace Collins Hoist The Flag of Nagalim At Khalistan Day Celebrations, At Lincoln Memorial.

London, May 14 : India's current temporary UN Security Council seat should serve as an opportunity for the international community to force it to comply with its human rights obligations.

This call was made by a major conference hosted Friday by "Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination" (PNSD) which also endorsed the right of Kashmiri, Sikh, and Naga self-determination in their homelands, as well as calls for UN criminal courts to punish those who have directed or carried out gross rights violations by the state in those conflict zones.

Chairing the event, British member of the upper House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed castigated India for its formal 'reservation' lodged at the UN under which it purports to deny that the right of self-determination applies to the nations living in Indian controlled territory.

The UN's own Human Rights Committee has demanded India withdraws its infamous 'Reservation' against Article 1 of the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which grants all peoples the right to self-determination; it goes on to provide that by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

He said the recent cases of East Timor and South Sudan were ample evidence that the international community had accepted the application of this right as a means to end conflict; yet India seems intent on continuing the blood letting in Kashmir, East Punjab, Nagaland and elsewhere, where it has opted instead for massive human rights violations as a means of crushing legitimate movements for freedom.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Chair of the All Party Hurriyat  Conference,participated in the event via telephone link from occupied Kashmir and detailed India’s breach of its commitment to the UN and to Kashmiris,made over 65 years ago, to allow the people of the region to decide their own destiny.

He condemned India as a state drunk with military power, whose armed forces are accountable to no one in accordance with shameful black laws such as the so-called Public Safety Act, which Amnesty International has recently branded “Unlawful Law”.

He demanded India withdraw its armed forces from Kashmir, involve Kashmiris in the dialogue and allow the UN to supervise a plebiscite so the people themselves can shape the outcome in a peaceful manner.

Kanwarpal Singh, spokesman for Dal Khalsa in East Punjab,  called for Nuremburg-type trials to punish Indian officials guilty of war crimes and genocide in East Punjab, Kashmir and India’s troubled North East.

Special messages were received from several British MPs. Fabian Hamiliton MP, Chair of the All Party Group for UK Sikhs, opined that “whether it is in the Punjab, in Kashmir or in the Middle East, the rights of peoples in these regions to self-determination should be strongly supported by the international community”.

Birmingham MP Khaled Mahmood pointed out that, whilst self-determination as a collective human right has been long established by international law, “India, somehow, officially denies it applies to the peoples and nations in the territory controlled by it”.

He said that was no way for the Indians to build a case for a permanent UN SC seat. He also called for the human rights violations by India to be addressed: “The rule of law is a pre-requisite to peace and the UN should itself administer justice if the Indian state
cannot, or will not, do so”.

Bradford MP Marsha Singh asked why the Sikhs, as nation, should not be allowed self-determination if they desired freedom and justice in their homeland. He described Kashmir as a time-bomb and said “we need to defuse this time bomb and that self-determination, by peaceful means, is the only viable option”. If 1947 was India’s “tryst with destiny” then it now needs a “tryst with justice” and the international community should bring that about.

Ranjit Singh, of the Council of Khalistan,  pointed out some 200,000 Sikhs have been killed since the genocide began in East Punjab in 1984 with no resolution to the conflict in sight.  He added that India has repeated the pattern in Kashmir.
Prof. Nazir Shawl of the Kashmir Centre, London, recalled how he ha
d been in India in November 1994 when Sikhs were being butchered in their thousands by Government sponsored mobs.

The killing machine has since extended its operations to Kashmir and yet the world stands by . He asked why the aspirations of the people of the Middle East are more important than the aspirations of the Sikhs, Kashmiris and others like the Nagas?

Calling for a more principled approach by the international community,he identified the cessation of violent suppression and the holding of UN supervised plebiscites as the only way to restore enduring peace to these shattered regions. The UN SC’s own resolutions on Kashmir were being flouted by a member of that body, which was untenable and
repugnant to any right minded person.

Peter Davis of the Naga Support Group in the UK in his message on behalf of Nagaland activists lamented that despite 70 rounds of talks “India is yet to demonstrate its real sincerity and preparedness” for a honorable and mutually acceptable solution”.

Muhammad Ghalib, President, Tehreek-e- Kashmir, welcomed the sincere display of solidarity at the Conference between nations who were seeking nothing other than their lawful rights being denied by a common aggressor.

Amrik Singh Sahota, President, Council of Khalistan,Manmohan Singh of Dal Khalsa, Ms Rana Nazir of the Kashmir Women’s Forum, Gurjeet Singh of the Sikh Federation, UK, Khawaja Suleman of Kashmir Information Centre, Santokh Singh of Akali Dal (Amritsar), Irshad Malik of Democratic Kashmir Front also spoke on the occasion.

They urged Sikhs, Kashmiris and Nagas to redouble their efforts to secure freedom as this was a prize that would not be handed to them by such a committed foe which has ruthlessly dismissed universally cherished humanitarian values.

Resolutions passed on the occasion called for India to withdraw its ‘Reservation’ against Article 1 of the 1966 Covenants, or in default, to be subjected to UN sanctions. Linked with this was a call for UN supervised plebiscites in Kashmir, East Punjab,  and Nagaland. In addition, the UN was called on to set up criminal tribunals to investigate and punish those guilty of massive abuses by the state, including genocide.

MP John Hemming endorsed all three resolutions, reaffirming his support for the event.

AP