26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

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LONDON, Oct 25: Lord Nazir Ahmed, member of Britain's House of Lords has called upon Prime Minister Tony Blair to appoint a special envoy for Kashmir "to monitor and help India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully and to the entire satisfaction of all the three parties involved."

Inaugurating a two-day international conference here on Monday on "Towards, Stability, Peace and Security in South Asia", Lord Nazir suggested the name of Robin Cook, former foreign secretary of Labour government for the proposed position of Britain's special envoy on Kashmir as according to Lord Nazir Mr Cook was the most respected politician in his country and enjoyed a very High-level of credibility internationally.

He also urged the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anan, to name his own special envoy for the same purpose and said India should have no reservations about third party involvement in the ongoing peace process in South Asia as such involvements in many a disputes in the recent past like the one in Northern Ireland, in his opinion, have had a very sobering effect on negotiations and had led to amicable resolutions of highly tricky issues.

Referring to the ongoing dispute as to which documents to be used for travel on the proposed bus service between Srinagar and Muzzafarabad, he said every Kashmiri possessed the Maharaja's state subject certificate which could be recognized by India and Pakistan as the legitimate document of travel between the Indian occupied Kashmir and Azad Kashmir.

The conference is being sponsored by Justice Foundation-Kashmir Centre, London; Kashmiri American Council - Kashmir Centre Washington and International Council of Human Rights, Kashmir Centre, European Union, Brussels.

Syed Ali Geelani, chairman APHC was invited to the conference, but he could not make it because the Indian government had again refused to allow him to travel abroad. He spoke at the conference through videophone.

In his welcome address, Prof Nazir Shawl, executive director of Justice Foundation's Kashmir Centre in London said that Pakistan, a close ally of the United States and the West in the fight against terrorism since 9/11 has been under pressure to end its support to Kashmiri freedom struggle and as a result Pakistan's ban on certain militant organizations in the country has been generally welcomed abroad "but its effect on ongoing purely Kashmiri resistance seems to be little."

Most speakers in the first and the second sessions dwelt largely on the history of Kashmir issue, the definitions of terrorism and freedom struggle, the place of Kashmiris in the ongoing dialogue between India and Pakistan on this issue and the legal position of the UN resolutions.

Raja Nadir Pervez, MNA (PML-N), member of special committee of the National Assembly of Pakistan on Kashmir said, though he belonged to the opposition in Pakistan but on the question of Kashmir the entire nation was one.

Other speakers included Maria Sultan, deputy director, South Asia Strategic Stability Unit (SASSU), Bradford Disarmament Research Centre, Pervaiz Ahmed, executive member, APHC, Muzzafarabad and Barrister Abdul Majid Tramboo, executive director, Kashmir Centre. EU, Brussels.

The proceedings of the conference had remained largely unexciting until the last about 15 minutes when joining the general debate a British peace activist, Gerald Frances belonging to a world-wide group opposed to war offered to raise the issue of Kashmir at the next year's European Social Forum (this year's ESF was held in London last week).

He said Kashmir needs to be taken to much wider audience and like Palestine it needs to be brought on the main stream of world problems. And he agreed with Noam Chommsky view that terrorism can only be stopped if states stopped participating in terrorism.

Gautam Naulakha an Indian scholar while admitting that at least about 75 to 80 per cent of human rights violations in occupied Kashmir were being perpetrated by the Indian troops. He condemned it, but called upon the participants to condemn that the rest of the human rights violations which he said were being committed by the militants.

He said, both the warring sides even in a freedom struggle were obliged to follow a set of rules and violation of these rules by any one should be universally condemned. While he agreed that most of the freedom struggle going on inside held Kashmir was indigenous, he said he had serious reservations about Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaishe Mohmmad and called them non-indigenous.

Shirin Mazari, Director General of Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad countered Gautam's arguments and said those engaged in freedom struggle in Kashmir were abiding by the rules of war and had not yet taken their war inside India like the Irish had done by indulging in terrorist activities in London or the Algerians who had taken their fight to France.

Mushahid Hussain Syed, Secretary-General of the ruling PML and member of Special Committee of National Assembly of Pakistan on Kashmir is also attending the conference.