(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Nov 6 (KUNA) -- A British Member of the European Parliament (EP) has expressed concern over the lack of interest by the international community to resolve the Kashmir issue.
"It is of great concern that at the international community level the political will simply is not there to deal with this issue as it should be deserved," said British Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim at the launching of the "Kashmir EU-Week" in the EP Monday evening in Brussels. "In the EU after having adopted so many resolutions and debates we still find ourselves in the situation that our sister institutions are not acknowledging the black and white texts that are voted upon and passed by the EP," said Karim who is of Pakistani origin and founder of the Friends of Pakistan group in the EP.
"This very clearly indicates the very lack of progress at the international level. This now deserves much more concentrated effort," he said.
In his keynote speech, the prime minister of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir (so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir) Raja Farooq Haider Khan warned that lasting peace in the Indian subcontinent cannot be achieved unless the Kashmir issue is resolved.
He called on the EU to put pressure on India to allow a plebiscite in Kashmir to let the people decide their future.
"EU can play an important role in bringing peace in this part of the world," noted Haidar Khan.
The Chairman of the NGO Kashmir Council-EU, Ali Raza Syed, the organizer of the event, said it is the 11th annual week-long event on Kashmir in the EP.
The theme of the event, he noted, is "living with the legacy of the partition: the search for a lasting peace." Syed said the programme includes, seminars, workshops, and a photo and a handicraft exhibition on Kashmir.
Analysts point out that mainly British MEPs are active and show interest in the Kashmir issue as they have large Pakistani and Kashmiri communities living in their voter constituencies in the UK.
But they warn that once the UK leaves the EU next March, the Kashmir issue will all but disappear from the EP radar.(end) nk.tg
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