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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