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Published 27 Oct, 2003 12:00am

Indian media wrongly projecting Kashmir: EU

ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: A European Union delegation on Sunday said that Indian claims of the establishment of military training camps and organized incursions into Azad Kashmir by Pakistan troops were not correct.

The delegation led by Cris Davis Mep recently paid a week-long visit to Azad Kashmir.

Mr Davis, a member of the European Parliament and Secretary of All Parties Kashmir Parliamentary Group, also plans to visit occupied Kashmir.

Also included in the delegation were a candidate for the European Parliament for the next elections, Sajjad Karim, and Press Secretary of Kashmir Freedom Council (Great Britain) Chaudhry Abdullah Zaid.

The delegation visited two refugee camps of Azad Kashmir, one at Muzaffarabad and the other near the Line of Control.

Sharing their views after the visit, they said: “India is portraying the situation of Kashmir which is quite obstructive, negative and deceitful.”

They said the United Nations had passed a resolution for holding a plebiscite to know the will of the Kashmiri people about the status of the valley and that resolution had not been implemented yet.

Mr Davis said that he had no doubt that India was violating human rights in occupied Kashmir.

“Both India and Pakistan should be brought to the negotiating table and political leadership must be mobilized to solve the dispute,” the British parliamentarian said. He said he had planned to visit Indian-held Kashmir and if Indian government refused to give him permission, he would raise this issue in the British parliament.

Mr Sajjad Karim said: “My perspective is changed about Kashmir after this visit as the view presented before us was not correct.”

He said in the camp they met people who lost their limbs due to brutal behaviour of the Indian army. He said he had no doubt about atrocities being committed by Indian forces.

He said gross human rights violations were taking place in occupied Kashmir.

However, he said, they had not come across any evidence of human rights violation in Azad Kashmir. He said India was deceiving the world on the Kashmir issue and the Indian media was wrongly projecting the facts.—APP

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