Kashmiris in Pakistan denounce European report

ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Activists from Pakistan occupied Kashmir marched through the Pakistani capital today in a protest against a European parliament report they said glossed over rights abuses by the Indian military.

The activists opposed to Indian rule in the region said the report issued last month by Emma Nicholson, a British member of the European Parliament and vice chairwoman of its foreign affairs committee, was neither credible nor balanced.

The report said calls for a plebiscite to determine the region's status were ''wholly out of step with the needs of the local people and thus damaging to their interersts''.

Pakistan has for decades demanded a plebiscite in Kashmir, in line with UN resolutions of the late 1940s and early 1950s, although President Pervez Musharraf has in recent years said Pakistan might drop that demand as part of a solution.

The activists said Nicholson only met pro-India Kashmiris during a visit to the region this year.

''She did not meet pro-freedom groups, APHC leaders and common people,'' said Ashraf Saraf, an official of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an umbrella organisation of Kashmiri groups opposed to Indian rule in the region.

''She has tried to brush aside the right of self-determination which goes against the UN Security Council resolutions,'' Saraf said, referring to the resolutions calling for a plebiscite to determine if Kashmiris wanted to be part of India or Pakistan.

India ignored the resolutions.

About 300 activists marched to the office of the European Commission in Islamabad. Some carried banners reading: ''We reject Nicholson report'', ''We condemn pro-India and biased report''.

Police stopped the protesters from getting close to the office but there was no trouble.

The report deplored human rights violations by Indian security forces in Indian Kashmir as well as violence by militant groups based in Pakistan.

Indian authorities say more than 41,000 people have been killed in the insurgency. Independent rights groups say the toll is much higher and anti-India activists put it at 100,000.

REUTERS