JKLF chairman Yasin Malik left for New Delhi on 26th July.

He will be arriving in Srinagar on Tuesday.

The leader of the Kashmiri independence movement and executive member of the Kashmiri all party coalition, the APHC, Yasin Malik, has called for the international community to intervene in Kashmir following failure of Indo-Pak 'talks' on in Agra. "We have nothing to offer to the world but we expect Britain to come to our rescue because you have a moral obligation to do so". He was speaking at a meeting of British MPs in the House of Commons in London, days before leaving for Srinagar, following his successful surgery in the USA.

The JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik, made a powerful plea to the conscience of British parliamentarians by saying that the "court of conscience was above all the law courts" and that the case for "justice for Kashmir should be weighed against your conscience and not against economic interests". Yasin Malik is the first Kashmiri leader from Srinagar to be invited to the House of Commons to speak to a large number of Labour Party MPs. The hastily organised meeting was called by Bradford MPs, where thousands of Kashmiris from Azad Kashmir play a crucial part in local electoral politics. As many as 8 members of parliament were present during his first ever interaction with British parliamentarians on the issue of Kashmir.

Focusing his attention on the ruling Labour government in the UK, Yasin Malik recalled how the then shadow foreign secretary Robin Cook spent a night at his residence in 1995 and promised to do more for Kashmir if Labour Paty won the election in the country. "They won the elections then, and they won again but for 5 years little has been done to save the people of Kashmir. Britain has played a role (in resolving the issue) in Bosnia, Kosovo, East Temore and in the Middle East but why have a different yardstick in Kashmir ", he asked. He stated that until the international community was prepared to help bring about a peaceful resolution India and Pakistan would not be able to do so. "We will not let them divide our land amongst them. The land belong to the Kashmiris and they must decide for themselves what kind of future they want. We have a long history of independence even before Pakistan was born and self-determination is our birth right, which was not given to us when you left India".

Commenting on the collapse of the Agra summit, Yasin Malik, said that it was no surprise to anyone as no homework had been done before hand and Indian and Pakistani delegates were only trying to score points against each other. Criticising the approach to resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally, he said that "Kashmiris were not animals so that they could be bartered between India and Pakistan".

"Kashmir is not a dispute of territory or border. It is a question of right of self-determination for the 13 million people. We are the victim of the partition and Labour government has a moral obligation to help us as they were in power in 1947 when they left the Kashmir question unresolved", he said. He recounted his years of peaceful struggle and how he was pushed into armed resistance when all other options had failed and said that following his unilateral cease-fire declaration in 1994 after release from prison over 600 of his (unarmed) colleagues had been killed by Indian 'security forces'. He cited that example of Jalil Shah and his relatives brutal killing following the JKLF blood donation week for Gujrat earthquake victims and asked 'where is the scope for the peaceful movement in Kashmir ?'.

He said that while he was in prison he had persuaded some other militant commanders to take up the path of peaceful resistance but Indian forces killed each and everyone of them while they were unarmed. "The tragedy is that the followers of Gandhi's Ahinsa have pushed Kashmiris to give up their 5000 years of traditions of peaceful resistance because it suited India to tarnish the image of peaceful Kashmiris".

A British foreign office representative as well as several JKLF leaders in UK were present during the meeting. Representatives from other Kashmiri groups as well as J&K Human rights council, South Asia Solidarity group, Third World Solidarity, some academics and intellectuals from Indian and Pakistani background were present at the commons gathering. The Labour Mps re-affirmed their commitment for the Kashmir cause and gave Mr Malik assurances of their continued support for the Kashmir cause. The 3 Bradford MPs included Terry Rooney, Marsh Singh, and Ann Cryer. Others represented the midlands city of Brimingham and Walsall and the northern towns of Halifax, Rochdale and Bolton.

JKLF's General Council in UK, comprising of nearly two dozen branches held its 10th convention in Birmingham on Sunday, which was presided over by the chairman Yasin Malik. JKLF, UK_Europe is the only Kashmiri organisation in the country, which regularly appoints democratically elected office bearers. Mr Malik took an oath of allegiance from the newly elected executive body, which is to run the organisation for the next two years. Speaking at the Convention, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, congratulated the newly elected office bearers and told them of their immense responsibilities towards the independence movement and for the smooth running of the organisation. He told his party workers that their was no time to relax and urged the outgoing and incoming office bearers to redouble their efforts to realize Maqbool Butt Shaheed's dream. He commended the democratic character of the UK party and said that such a luxury was only a dream for them in Srinagar but they would triumph in the end. Following the two morning and afternoon sessions of the General Council, a public rally was held in the Green Lane community hall where Birmingham city's Kashmiri councilors and other leaders of Kashmiri groups spoke in support of the independence movement and pledge their commitment for the ongoing struggle to liberate their motherland

In the election results the president Shabir Choudhry was replaced by a former treasurer of the party, Abbass Ahmed Butt, from Watford and Azmat Khan, the UK General Secretary, was replaced by a former general secretary Zubair Ansari. Both Butt and Ansari along with 10 other office bearers were elected unopposed. Zubair Ansari, was the party general secretary for Azad Kashmir until recently when he came back to UK after 15 years of staying away in his hometown in Mirpur. The General Council also elected new Working Committee members, which included the former presidents and general secretaries. The top most policy making body in the UK known as the Central Committee will be elected by the working committee members in its first inaugural meeting next month. Ends

Bradford, 8 July, 01

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman, Yasin Malik, addressing a huge public rally in north England city of Bradford, urged UK Kashmiris to put aside smaller differences and work together for the bigger national goal. He called on over quarter a million British Kashmiris to find the common grounds for unified struggle and not divide on petty issues and not to get involved in the electoral politics of Azad Kashmir. Hundreds of Azad Kashmiris packed the meeting hall on Barkerend road as the news of the Kashmiri leader's arrival in Bradford spread. The rally was organised by the local JKLF branch, which was cancelled earlier as Yasin Malik had decided to leave for Srinagar. He was persuaded to stay. He told UK Kashmiris to take pride in their Kashmiri national credentials and "love your motherland in the same way as did our prophet Mohammed (pbuh) - your motherland needs all the help you can give but you can only do that if you come out with one voice".

In his 1-hour long speech he gave details of how JKLF men had sacrificed everything to get rid of the historical label on Kashmiris that they were 'cowards'. He said that the Kashmiri Mujahideen were inspired by Shaheed_e_Azam, Maqbool Butt, and that the whole nation was united to see his mission completed. "Our nation is not willing to give up the fight for self-determination. No one should think for one minute that Kashmiri people are tired of the struggle. We have lost everything but we have not lost the courage and the will to carry on with our liberation movement", He said. He criticised the bilateral approaches between India and Pakistan and said that no solution would be acceptable to APHC if the Kashmiri leaders were not sitting on the discussion table. He rejected the speculation that APHC may be willing to accept the LoC as international border if Pakistan wanted them to do so. "We did not sacrifice thousands of lives to accept division of our motherland". The JKLF leader received standing ovation at the end of his historic speech. He also appealed to people to buy and read G M Mir's new book 'Geographical realities of Jammu - Kashmir', which had just been published in Mirpur. He personally signed dozens of copies of the book.

Other speakers included Bradford's Kashmiri councilors and former Lord Mayor of Bradford Mohammed Ajeeb as well as the present Lord Mayor Cllr Ghazanafar Khaliq, both of home come from Mirpur. Bradford's spritiual leader and founder of the World Islamic mission Pir Maroof Hussain Shah Naushahi also shared the platform with Yasin Malik and spoke in support of the independence movement. JKLF president in UK, Shabir Choudhry, and Bradford based General Secretary Azmat Khan welcomed Mr Malik to his first ever trip to Bradford. Their publicity secretary Sagir Ahmed conducted the day's proceedings. Yasin Malik was later given a civic reception by Bradford's Lord Mayor Cllr Khaliq in the city hall where city's top politicians including Bradford's MPs and councilors and leader of the opposition Labour Party, Ian Greenwood, welcomed the Kashmiri freedom fighter to Bradford city. The Lord Mayor presented him with a commemorative gift from his office. He dismissed earlier criticism from a Hindu fascist leader Husmukh for inviting Yasin Malik to the city and said that his doors were open to all world dignitaries no matter which contry they belonged to. Mr Malik later went on to address Kashmiri meetings in Oldham, Halifax, Blackburn and Accrington.

6 p.m. Address a public gathering in Luton at Warwick Community Centre, Warwick Road, Luton

Friday, 29th June,

2 p.m. Yasin Malik to meet a religious congregation after Jumma prayers in the Community Hall of the Central Mosque in Watford.

5 p.m. Meet a women group in Watford.

London - JKLF leader, Yasin Malik, who arrived in London last week made a powerful plea to India and Pakistan to resist the temptation of further dividing Jamm-Kashmir to perpetuate their hold on the territory. He said his hope lied with the ordinary people of India and Pakistan who will rise one day against the tyranny of occupation and relieve the Kashmiris. Thanking the SASG and Delhi based Champa Foundation for all their support he claimed that he had received tremendous support from many, progressive, left wing politicians and rights activists in India and hoped that they would stand up with him one day just Americans did in Washington against the war Vietnam. He was speaking at a selected gathering of South Asia Solidarity Group in London's School of pharmacy. He said Kashmiris did not want to be called 'Indian Occupied' or 'Pakistani -controlled' and wanted their national identity and sovereignty retained along with historically rich culture of tolerance and co-existence. " Any attempts to divide Kashmir on communal lines will have a devastating affect in every Indian State. We do not wish to see the 1947 massacres repeated. We want to make Kashmir an example of peace and harmony, which can only be achieved if both India and Pakistan leave us alone".

While giving background to his entry into JKLF, he said that he had tried all peaceful means and discovered that there was no room for a peaceful resistance. He claimed that armed resistance was required to bring India to the negotiating table but now that that has been achieved Pakistan does not seem to interested in reciprocating the APHC position which it took and refused to talk to India without the presence of the other party - Pakistan. He recounted the killing of his so many party workers by the army and condemned the human rights violation committed by the Indian armed forces. Claiming overwhelming support for independence in the valley he quoted CNN, AFP and Outlook survey and said that 85 % were for complete independence. He said that India and Pakistani agencies had created groups in their respective controlled parts. He opposed the idea of regional plebiscite and said that majority of Jammu, Ladakh and Azad Kashmir region were with him and the test for their will should be free vote. He supported the line taken by APHC on the Indo-Pak summit and said that any agreement reached by India and Pakistan bilaterally will not be acceptable to us. Critising India and Pakistan for excluding the Kashmiri representatives from the proposed New Delhi Summit Malik said, "Kashmiri are not animals whose fate can be decided by the master. You cannot sit down and decide on our future as if we do not exist". He said that if Vietnamese, Palestinian, Afghanis and Irish are represented by their leaders round a table why should the Kashmiris, who have given supreme sacrifices, have to chose who should advocate their case.

Another speaker, the leftist political commentator, writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali, criticised India for suppressing the will of the Kashmiris and said that Kashmiri history is evidence enough that the present state of affairs cannot go on for ever. "Rape, torture and killing of civilians is not a solution to the Kashmir issue. The answer lies with giving the Kashmiris what they want". He also criticised Pakistan for attempting to take over Kashmiri resistance movement and said that the two countries were being held back because of Kashmir.

Amrit Wilson, chairing the meeting, introduced Yasin Malik as the most progressive and prominent leader of the Kashmiri independence movement and condemned Indian state for imprisoning and torturing him. She also questioned the legitimacy of Indian secularism where "women are raped, mosques are burnt and children are miamed in the name of religion".

The meeting was attending by a large number of men and women of Indian, Kashmiri, Pakistani, Srilankan and Bangladeshi origin including Kashmiri pandits and people from Azad Kashmir. Earlier, Mr Malik visited Bush House, home of BBC Radio World Services - where he gave interviews to Enlgish, Urdu and Hindi Service.

a .m. JKLF chairman addresses the Central Executive Committee meeting his UK organisation in London

p. m. ARY Digital (Pakistani Channel) live TV discussion on Kashmir

Meeting with pro-independence Kashmiri groups in Birmingham.