MIRPUR (AJK): (Parliament Times) The persistent struggle of Kashmiri Scandinavian Council (KSC), Norway, a lobby group of Kashmiris, has crossed another milestone when an interpolation on Kashmir conflict in the Norwegian parliament recently was tabled by Mr. Knut Ariled Hareide, a member of parliament and the current head of the Christian Democratic Party.
The Sources told this Correspondent over telephone from Oslo on Wednesday that the Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Børge Brende is confirmed to make a policy statement in the parliament during interpolation on Kashmir conflict proposed on 23rd May 2017.
Earlier a debate was held in 2010 and again in September 2012 when the Norwegian parliament raised the issue of existence of unidentified mass graves in occupied Kashmir. In May 2013 interpolation entitled “Kashmir on the backdrop of withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2014†was submitted for a debate by the Chairman of the Norwegian parliamentary Kashmir Committee and Christian Democrat (KrF) Party leader Mr. Knut Arild Hareide, the sources said.
Knut Arild Hareide termed Kashmir a serious and unresolved conflict which makes the area highly militarized and thus creating the risk of war between two nuclear powers of India and Pakistan. He said that unresolved Kashmir dispute hampers the solution to other conflicts in the region and inflict violence, besides posing a serious threat to international security.
Knut Arild Hareide raised several pertinent questions in his interpolation such as he asked Norwegian Foreign Minister “What strategies Foreign Minister considers are suitable and what initiatives will the Foreign Minister take to bring the two parties (India-Pakistan) into a process that could accelerate a peaceful solution to the conflict?†He suggested that the international community must engage more actively to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. Norway can – preferably in cooperation with the Europe Union, the United States and other countries – examine whether the UN or other international forums can take initiatives to reduce violence and conflict levels, strengthen human rights situation, improve and pave the way for a peace process in Kashmir, he maintained.
Ali Shahnawaz Khan, Executive Director of the Kashmiri Scandinavian Council, Norway and leader of the Christian Democratic Party, lauded Norwegian Govt. for Kashmir interpolation move in the parliament and hoped that other European institutions and national governments would also follow the suite and table the similar resolutions as human rights and right to self-determination which is the core value of the western civilization.
He said that EU Charter of Fundamental Rights contains rights and freedoms under six titles: Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizens’ Rights, and Justice. Proclaimed in 2000, the Charter has become legally binding on the EU with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, in December 2009.
He stated that Norwegian Parliament had several times urged India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue and resume negotiation process leading to the lasting solution to this conflict. The Kashmiri Scandinavian Council is an active lobbying group in the Scandinavia since 1994 founded by Mr. Ali Shahnawaz Khan, a businessman who has a deep interest in peace and stability in all regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
