Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 13, 2006  UK MPs take aim at India 
- By Seema Mustafa 
    New Delhi, May 12: A group of British parliamentarians have come together 
to set up a "Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination" body that will 
seek to get international recognition of self-determination as a fundamental 
human right. India is a clear target, with the organisers listing "Punjab, 
Nagas, Manipur, Tamils and Kashmiris" in their list of movements seeking 
self-determination.
  The chair of the new organisation, which was inaugurated at the Houses of 
Parliament at Westminster on Thursday, is Pakistani-origin Labour Party 
parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed, with Mr Ranjit Singh, a lawyer who is openly 
supportive of a separate state of Punjab, as its administrative secretary.
  The Indian high commission in London has taken the matter up with the British 
foreign office, which has disclaimed all responsibility, maintaining that it 
cannot interfere in the workings of the British Parliament. Mr Ranjit Singh, 
when contacted over the telephone by this correspondent, said that the effort 
of the parliamentarians was to propagate self-determination as a fundamental 
human right, and to give a platform through the organisation to all such 
separatist groups seeking self-determination. He said that a group of lawyers 
from Punjab had made a very forceful presentation for "the Sikhs right to 
self-determination" at the inaugural function. He said he himself was from 
Punjab and supported the right to self-determination which had assumed the 
shape of the "Khalistan" movement in the 1980s.
  Mr Singh claimed that the inaugural function was very well attended and that 
apart from Punjab, the "nationalist movements" of the "Nagas, Manipur, 
Northeast, Tamils, Kosovo, Kurdish self-determination" ... all had figured at 
the meeting. Interestingly, he had to be asked specifically about the 
Kashmiris, to which he said: "Yes, there were several speakers actually on this 
issue." Asked if representatives from Pakistans Northern Areas, Gilgit, 
Baltistan as well as Baluchistan had been represented, Mr Singh said: "We are a 
new organisation, more groups will come." It is learnt that a group of Baluchis 
did arrive for the conference but, sources said, "they were not allowed to 
speak for more than 30 seconds."
  Mr Ranjit Singh said that in his view, "if people are denied 
self-determination, the situation eventually leads to huge human rights 
abuses." He said that a cross-section of MPs was represented in the 
organisation and it would focus on "informing the world that self-determination 
was a fundamental right and not just a political slogan." The vice-chair of the 
parliamentarians group is Mr Elfyn Llwyd, MP, who represents the Welsh, 
Scottish and English nationalist groups. Others who spoke and are associated 
with the organisation include Mr Simon Hughes, president of the Liberal 
Democratic Party, Daniel Hannon, member of the European Parliament from the 
Conservative Party, Mr Peter Wishart, MP of the Scottish Nationalist Party, and 
Mr Kashmiri Singh, general secretary of the British Sikh Federation. The 
conference was organised in collaboration with the Hague-based Unrepresented 
Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO).
  Lord Nazir Ahmad could not be reached. Sources said that he is the treasurer 
of a newly-constituted group on Sikhs and helps raise and channel funds. He is 
particularly unpopular with the Indian community in London, with several 
members having written to him protesting against the visible anti-India bias of 
the new organisation. Lord Dholakia, who is chairman of the Liberal Democrats 
Friends of India, spoke out against the parliamentarians initiative in the 
House of Lords. He said that it was important to ensure that government 
subcommittees were representative of all communities, and "not restricted just 
to those perceived as being responsible for the atrocities on that day." He 
went on to point out: "When examining home-grown terrorism, we need to consider 
the pronouncements often made by responsible people in our community in this 
country. I refer, for example, to those who exploit the situation in the 
subcontinent by advocating self-determination of some states in
 that part of the world. Those are the breeding grounds of emotions and hatred 
and do nothing but damage the stability of some people in this country and the 
stability of communities."
  Interestingly, several Baloch and Sindhi groups are active in the UK and 
submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Tony Blair last year demanding that 
Pakistan should stop "committing ongoing atrocities against our peoples in 
Pakistan. Over the last six months, Pakistans military and paramilitary forces 
have once again started a widespread operation using heavy air and ground 
artillery in various parts of Balochistan. This violent and illegal operation 
was started to suppress the legitimate demands of the Baloch people." The 
signatories to this memorandum, which is with this newspaper, included the 
World Sindhi Congress, Sindhi Baloch Forum and Balochistan Rights Movement, who 
incidentally were not invited to the parliamentarians and the UNPOs inaugural 
conference.



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