Since its inception more than three years ago, the Kashmir Centre.EU has been working tirelessly to raise the profile of the Kashmir issue and awareness of the sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who are reeling under the occupation of India, supposedly the world’s ‘largest democracy’.
The last nine months have been very challenging and rewarding for the Kashmir Centre.EU as it successfully lobbied for the Kashmiri voice to be heard in the corridors of the European Parliament.
One of the prime challenges for the Kashmir Centre.EU has been to seek corrections in the ‘draft report’ of Baroness Emma Nicholson. The draft report titled Kashmir: Present Situation and Future Prospects which was prepared by Baroness Nicholson for the EP’s Foreign Relations Committee had caused outrage and strong protests worldwide, particularly from Kashmiris on both the sides of the divide. The report had sought to ignore and downplay the Kashmiris’ demands for freedom and their right of self-determination, as well as massive human rights violations being perpetrated by the occupying Indian Army and paramilitary forces.
The Nicholson report had brushed aside calls for a plebiscite on the final status of Jammu and Kashmir, calling it ‘wholly out of step’ and thus ignoring the UN Security Council Resolutions and the fundamentals of the dispute. This was in sharp contrast to the European Parliament’s Adhoc Delegation Report that was adopted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs in November 2004, which accepted that the Kashmiris were party to the dispute.
Because of these fundamental flaws, many people have characterised this latest report as pro-India and Pakistan-bashing, accusing its rapporteur Emma Nicholson of being biased and ignorant of the sufferings and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Many Kashmir observers have commented that the report contained no balanced, reflective and informative analysis of the situation, and proceeded from these unstable foundations to make sweeping assertions which were unjustified by evidence.
The feeling of anti-Kashmir bias was strengthened by the fact that when Emma Nicholson visited Jammu and Kashmir in June 2006, she only met with Indian-sponsored groups, the Indian Army and paramilitary forces and chose to ignore the pro-freedom political groups that represent the majority of the Kashmiri peoples and their aspirations. As a result, the vast majority of the Kashmiri groups rejected the draft report, undermining the credibility of the European Union in their own hearts and minds.
The report was also criticised internationally for its obvious bias and severe shortcomings including its inability to appreciate the realities on the ground. Many MEPs lent their voices to criticise the report, accusing Baroness Nicholson of having a ‘colonial mentality’. The All Parties Group on Kashmir of European Parliament (APGK), chaired by James Elles MEP even proposed that a ‘drafting committee’ should be constituted, thus casting doubts about the capability of Baroness Nicholson.
Kashmir Centre.EU, the prime stakeholder in Europe of the Kashmir cause, while rejecting the report declared it one-sided and worked hard to amend it to reflect the true sentiment of the Kashmiri people and to place the realities in their historical context. Barrister Majid Tramboo, Chairman and Executive Director of the Kashmir Centre.EU, and the All Party Group for Kashmir in the European Parliament (APGK) made up of James Elles and fellow MEPs including Sajjad Karim, Cem Ozdimir, Richard Howitt, Gary Titley, Chris Davies, Eric Meijer, Philip Bushill-Matthews and Liz Lynn have all worked tirelessly to pursue the amendments through the debate and vote in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
Kashmir Centre.EU launched a determined lobbying campaign within the European Parliament, contacting hundreds of members of the European Parliament from all over the continent. Kashmir Centre.EU also held scores of meetings, delivered presentations and facilitated visits of various Kashmiri groups to the EU to highlight the Kashmiri point of view. In this context, a two-member EU team visited Azad Kashmir, India and Pakistan. Elmar Brok, the then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament together with James Elles met with Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They also met numerous Kashmiri leaders, including the Prime Minister and the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Emma Nicholson draft report has been the subject of unparalleled criticism in the European Parliament, and has moved scores of MEPs to seek changes to the report. As a result, more than 450 amendments were registered with the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Secretariat. The amendments called for upholding the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and deploring gross human rights violations taking place in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The pressure built by these efforts culminated in Baroness Emma Nicholson agreeing on ‘compromise amendments’ that included such demands as an end to human rights violations and Kashmiris’ demands for the right of self-determination. The revised report that was adopted by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on March 20, 2007 is a significant improvement over the draft report. It calls for an end to all extra judicial killings by the Indian Army and paramilitary forces and seeks demilitarisation while recognising “the aspiration of the Kashmiri people for a significantly reduced military presence on both sides of the Line of Control”.
Although the report has been passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee, many European parliamentarians have vowed that they will seek more changes to the report before its presentation to the plenary of the European Parliament in May. Having examined the draft report followed by compromise amendments by the rapporteur, Kashmir Centre.EU believes that the substance of the draft report has been modified through the revised compromises and amendments as reflected in the adopted amended report. Kashmir Centre.EU’s Majid Tramboo called the new report “a significant progress”, but hoped to see further changes in it to make it more balanced and fair. “We will now lobby MEPs and their political groups to get a much fairer report adopted at the plenary”, he said.
This text was prepared by the Kashmir Centre.EU
Avenue des Arts 57 - 1000 Brussels - Belgium
www.kashmircentreeu.org - info@kashmircentreeu.org