Kashmir issue legacy of British rule: JKLF

Saturday, 28 May 2011
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Saturday reminded British that Kashmir issue was the legacy of the country’s erstwhile rule and urged it to press India and Pakistan to resolve the issue in accordance with wishes and aspirations of the people.
Press Bureau of India city correspondent said British High Commissioner to India Sir Richard Stagg Tuesday called on the JKLF chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, at the party’s Maisuma headquarters here.
During the meeting with Stagg and his two aides, First Secretary Alex Bamford and Political Adviser Sushil Aaron, Malik stressed on the ‘urgency of the international community acknowledging and respecting the unilateral transition made by Kashmiris in 2008.”
“The Kashmir issue is a legacy of the British rule of the sub-continent . The British left in 1947, leading to the independence of India and Pakistan, but for Kashmiris it was the beginning of miseries and sufferings. It is this Kashmir issue which has consumed four generations of Kashmiris and continues to remain the basic hurdle to peaceful relations between India and Pakistan,” Malik told reporters after his meeting with the British diplomats.
“ Therefore, it’s the responsibility of Britain to use its friendly ties with India and Pakistan and press both the countries to resolve the issue at the earliest, in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris,” Malik said.
Terming demilitarization as the need of the hour, Malik said the Kashmiris had heeded to the international community’s call of peaceful and democratic means of protest. “ But instead of respecting this transition, our youth are being killed or jailed randomly, and India is using brute force to crush the peaceful uprising,” he said.
The situation could take a dangerous turn if India continued to push Kashmir’s young to the wall, Malik warned.
Malik also discussed with the British diplomats the “undemocratic” state response to the Public Interest Litigation seeking action against members of government forces responsible for the 118 civilian killings last summer.

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