Winning British polls a Kashmir test for Labour Government: Kayani
Birmingham: The upcoming five years in power are a “test” for British ruling Labour Party to outline its pro Kashmir policy, said Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK, leader Fahim Kayani, warning any U-turn would cost it dearly.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Fahim Kayani said the British Labour Party won a landslide in the UK general elections in July 04 elections with active support of Kashmiri and Pakistani voters.
“If the new government does not fulfill its commitments made to voters which include an overwhelming majority of those with Pakistani and Kashmiri descent, it will cause dent to party,” Kayani told a news conference in Birmingham.
The Labour Party will lose these seats in the next elections. “I am confident about it,” Kayani said, adding, British Pakistanis and Kashmiris voted Labour Party as well as independent candidates this election.
Recalling the Labour Party’s policy on Kashmir, Kayani said when Roger Godsiff from Labour party won elections in 1992 with the support of Pakistanis and Kashmiris, then Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK President Syed Munawar Hasan Mashafi took him to Azad Kashmir.
After his return to the UK, “he played a pivotal role in forming All Party Parliamentary group for Kashmir which raised Kashmir issue on Intenational forums and organized official step on Kashmir in the British Parliament,” he said, adding that the Labour Party will have to outline its policy on Kashmir which must be based on UN resolutions and right to self-determination.
