EU parliamentary report under Baroness Emma on Kashmir in 2007
EU passes Emma Nicholson's Kashmir report with an overwhelming Majority
EU passes Emma Nicholson's Kashmir report with an overwhelming Majority
Strasbourg (France), May 24 : The European Parliament here today passed the Baroness Emma Nicholson report on Kashmir with an overwhelming majority.
The report, which has criticised the human rights situation in the Pakistani side of Kashmir, got a thumping approval from the parliamentarians.
Prior to the debate on the report at the plenary session of the European Parliament, Baroness Nicholson gave a firm rejoinder to a letter that she had received from Saeed Khalid, Pakistan's Ambassador to the European Union.
Responding to Ambassador Khalid's contention that the Northern Areas of Pakistan were never a part of Jammu and Kashmir, and that the Siachen Glacier formed a part of the Northern Areas, Baroness Nicholson said that she could not "commend" the Pakistan Government's "new position" to the European Parliament.
Stating that she had rigorously revisited her earlier research on the geography and history of the region, including checking of maps, treaties, historic documents and speeches from 1846 till date, and had come to the following conclusions:
1. All the evidence points to the fact that Gilgit and Baltistan region were constituent parts of Jammu and Kashmir by 1877.
2. They were under the sovereignty of Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and remained in this princely domain till the date of accession on October 26, 1947.
3. The assertion that the Northern Areas were independent of Jammu and Kashmir in August 1947 was incorrect, as the British had only leased a small part of the territory from the Maharajah (Hari Singh) on March 29, 1935, to provide a strong defence and security provision against persistent Russian invasion of the State.
4. The lease did not take away the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir. Ownership remained fairly and squarely with the ruler. The lease came to an end on August 1, 1947 in preparation for partition on August 15, 1947, thus giving the ruler full powers to decide which two emerging nations would his state join.
Baroness Nicholson further went on to say that as supporting evidence, she was forwarding an official map of the region as it existed in 1909, which clearly showed Gilgit and Baltistan to be well within the State borders of Kashmir, an extract of the leasehold agreement of 1935, an extract of the Instrument of Accession of October 26, 1947 and a letter from Maharaja Hari Singh giving reasons for his decision to accede the State of Jammu and Kashmir to the Dominion of India.
Turning to the issue of the Siachen Glacier being a part of the Northern Areas, she said that she could not incorporate Pakistan's viewpoint on the issue into the final report, as the "Siachen Glacier issue only found small mention in the report, and new section would have to be created to adopt the eleven paragraphs of information provided by Islamabad."
She said that a reworking of a report of such magnitude at such a late stage was "highly unlikely and politically unacceptable"
She also said that there was no "historical or geographical justification for Pakistan's contention that Gilgit and Baltistan were not a part of the erstwhile royal state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier this week, Baroness Emma, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, deplored the recent outbreaks of violence in Karachi and said that the overwhelming need of the hour, is to "secure an independent justice system to address the situation of the people of Pakistan, and particularly those of AJK (Ajad Jammu and Kashmir)
and Gilgit and Baltistan".
While admitting that both Pakistan and India have been encouraged to apply the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Kashmir, from 1948 to 1971 for all measures to improve the situation in Kashmir, the recent violations of various UNSC resolutions, suggest that "preconditions for using the plebiscite have not been met, and cannot be met by Pakistan at this time."
Baroness Nicholson has strongly recommended that the Government of Pakistan endorses and implements the judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan of 28 May 1999 which validates the Kashmiri heritage of the people of Gilgit and Baltistan and states that the Government should implement their fundamental human rights, democratic freedoms and access to justice.
She says that Pakistan has consistently failed to fulfil its obligations to introduce meaningful and representative democratic structures on its side of Kashmir.
Nicholson is particularly critical of the fact that the Pakistan side of Kashmir is governed through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad, that Pakistan officials dominate the Kashmir Council and that the Chief Secretary, the Inspector-General of Police, the Accountant-General and the Finance Secretary are all from Pakistan.
She has also expressed her disapproval of the provision in the 1974 Interim Constitution, which forbids any political activity that is not in accordance with the doctrine of Jammu and Kashmir, as part of Pakistan, and obliges any candidate for a parliamentary seat in AJK to sign a declaration of loyalty to that effect.
That the Gilgit-Baltistan region enjoys no form of democratic representation whatsoever has also caused her concern.
Furthermore, she welcomes the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) move to work effectively towards making the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) a political and economic reality which will maximise the benefits for four parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
She concludes by calling on the Government of Pakistan to end the "positive list" system; notes positively that, although trade between the two countries has fluctuated over the past decade, the overall level of official trade between India and Pakistan has increased from USD 180 million in 1996 to USD 602 million in 2005. She believes this latent trading potential between the two countries should be encouraged.
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