London: Kashmiri diaspora in Britain held a peaceful protest on the occasion of Commonwealth Day and stressed on stopping of bloodshed in occupied Kashmir and release of Kashmiri political prisoners, especially the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Chairman, Shabbir Ahmad Shah.
The Queen of Britain every year hosts a dinner for all the Commonwealth representatives, diplomats in Britain representing different countries, parliamentarians and other dignitaries on March 12 and talks to them on various issues.
The Government of Britain this year had allowed only six Kashmiris to hold their protest near the inner gate through which all the dignitaries and the Queen of Britain pass.
The protesters were holding placards and banners depicting slogans like “Stop genocide of Kashmiris”, “We want freedom” and “Free Shabbir Shah”.
At the end of the protest demonstration, the solicitor of the Kashmiri Diaspora in Britain, Irshad Malik, told media that “Commonwealth member countries, especially Britain had the moral responsibility to find a solution to the lingering Kashmir dispute.” He said that youths were being killed on daily basis in Kashmir and Kashmiri pro-freedom leaders as well as common people were being jailed every now and then.
Expressing concern over the continued illegal detention of Shabbir Ahmad Shah, he said that two decades back the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International had termed Shabbir Shah as “Prisoner of Conscience” and unfortunately the same “Prisoner of Conscience” is going to complete his 31 years in jails.
Irshad Malik said Shabbir Shah’s continued illegal detention is political vendetta as he is being targeted only for advocating peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. “Shabbir Shah has been detained in the Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail after a fabricated case was registered against him last year,” he added.
He urged the justice and freedom-loving people of the world to break their silence on the continued illegal detention of Shabbir Shah.
