LONDON, Dec 13: UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir (PPGK) unanimously agreed on Tuesday to support amendments to Baroness Nicholson’s draft report to European Parliament calling it ‘fundamentally flawed’. The group plans to forward these amendments to the European Parliament ahead of the Jan 10 deadline.
In a meeting with Pakistan’s High Commissioner, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the PPGK described the Nicholson’s draft report as ‘not a true reflection of the current situation in Kashmir’.
According to a press statement issued by the High Commission on Wednesday, the Group now enlisted the support of MEP, Richard Howitt, Labour foreign affairs spokesperson in the European Parliament who, the statement said, had agreed to press for significant amendments to the report along the lines of the criticisms raised by his colleagues in Westminster.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi praised the efforts of MPs who attended the meeting of the APPG on Kashmir and others who have called for substantial amendments to “this unacceptable report”.
“I hope that the European Parliament will now take notice of the strong message that is coming out of Westminster,” she said.
MPs have also tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) 348 which describes Baroness Nicholson’s report as one-sided and calls upon the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee to produce a more balanced report.
Secretary to the APPG on Kashmir, Martin Salter MP, who is also a signatory to EDM 348 said: “This dreadful report is not based on evidence nor is it the subject of meaningful dialogue with the political representatives of the Kashmiris. We all want to see a resolution to this dispute but nothing will be served by simply demonising the government of Pakistan or denying the Kashmiri’s their long-held claim to a plebiscite on the future of their country.”
