ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Commonwealth help sought over Kashmir

Sheikh Manzoor Ahmed and George Verghese in Durban

A Canada-based Kashmiri separatist group has sought the Commonwealth leaders' intervention in the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Mushtaq A Jeelani, who is heading a Kashmiri-Canadian Council team to Durban, has approached the Commonwealth leaders and Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku to ''break their silence on the issue of self-determination.''

''There is lack of willingness on the part of the world community to address the Kashmir issue,'' he said.

Jeelani, who is the executive director of KCC, said the people of Kashmir are being sandwiched in the Indo-Pak cold war.

He said that bilateral talks between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue have proven inconclusive as there are no serious efforts to resolve the 52-year-old dispute.

He also referred to the boycott of parliamentary elections, indicating the lack of people's faith in the electoral process. Over 20 Hurriyat leaders were arrested during the electioneering as they were campaigning against elections.

He said that the people of Kashmir demand the right to decide their future by democratic and impartially supervised vote.

Jeelani said that the Commonwealth is a leading global force for averting and resolving disputes and for promoting democracy and good governance.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report