MUZAFFARABAD: A British county councillor of Kashmiri descent has said that the Britain based Pakistani and Kashmiris will have to associate themselves with the mainstream of United Kingdom politics, in order to garner maximum support for Kashmir cause.

Dr Misfar Hassan, who has been elected Lancashire county councillor for the second consecutive term as a nominee of the Labour Party, said the Kashmiri diaspora should persuade the British political parties to raise the issue of Kashmir according to its wishes.

“People should vote in the upcoming British parliamentary elections in return for support to Kashmir cause,” he said, while talking to a group of newsmen here on Tuesday.

Dr Hassan, who is nephew of Kashmir’s distinguished leader late K H Khurshid, regretted that the Kashmiris and Pakistanis were perhaps the only community in Britain which practiced politics of their native areas and thus causing a rift and friction among themselves.

“Political rivalries and regional, clannish and religious prejudices back home travel to the UK, to the detriment of our vital national interests,” he said.

“Elimination of these negative trends can turn us into a formidable force to do good to our common causes,” he added.

Dr Hassan said conscientious and concerned community members had been constantly telling their compatriots to shun politics of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) while they lived in the UK.

He pointed out that no other country had branches of its political parties in UK except for Pakistan and AJK.

In response to a question, he said the AJK government could also play a productive role in lobbying for Kashmir cause in UK, provided it showed seriousness, sincerity and commitment.

He however regretted that most of the AJK government functionaries frequenting UK in the name of Kashmir cause would either be ill equipped in terms of knowledge and communication skills or lacked needful commitment to cope with the given task. 

To a question, Dr Hassan said Pakistani missions had failed to adopt a proactive role on Kashmir.

“Islamabad should adopt a clear policy on Kashmir, and we expect from it to take us on board in this regard,” he stressed.

He deplored that a long pending demand regarding establishment of Kashmir desks in the Pakistani missions had not been honoured by Islamabad. 

“Pakistan should empower the Kashmiris through its missions across the world to speak for the cause as recognised representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

He made it clear that the Kashmiris were not averse to talks between India and Pakistan. “But if on Kashmir, the talks should include the Kashmiris.”

He said Pakistan should trust the Kashmiris and let the representatives of the AJK government participate in the talks with India on Kashmir. “We want to become facilitators between the two countries.”

Dr Hassan claimed that of the three major UK parties, Labour was the only party, which had a policy on Kashmir, which it was contemplating revising later this year.

Published in Dawn March 11th , 2015

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