Daily Diary (DD) - Day 246 of 2019

2335hrs:

So, it appears that my second online petition to the UK parliament has been rejected too!

The first was rejected after 5 days while this second one took 18 days to obtain a response of rejection.

Link to notes on 1st rejection.

Details of email on 2nd rejection:

"Support democracy in an internal J & K political process, not Indo-Pak hegemony."

It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.

Petitions need to call on the UK Government or Parliament to take a specific action. We understand that you're concerned about the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir, but we're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do. 

There are already petitions about the situation in Kashmir, which you might like to sign if they call for something you'd like to happen. You're more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition. 

Table Kashmir issue before the UN Security Council as an urgent threat to peace. 

I cannot sign the above because the UN only discusses this issue in respect of the divergent territorial claims of India and Pakistan. Their suggestions are non-binding (thus, unenforceable) and don't even consider us the primary stakeholders. This is not a question of accession, so holding an unlikely plebiscite would be pointless. This is a question of the 'right to rule' of the inhabitants and the UK has conveniently shifted responsibility from itself under its own created Indian Independence Act (that determined the rules and format of power transfer) and disenfranchised us further by repeatedly quoting non-binding UN resolutions.  

Urge India to de-escalate conflict and respect the special status of Kashmir.

This petition also cannot be signed because the special status was only a stop-gap measure adopted by the Indians to curtail local aspirations for the right to rule. It was practically eroded over the decades and has lost its utility. What is internally required throughout the divided parts of J & K is an internal political process. Defined and determined by the local inhabitants without external interference. This would be the most effective means of finding a durable solution. It would be democratic and representative, however the UK seems disinclined to support democracy in this region whereas it has shown a lot of vigilance in other parts of the world. 


Click this link to see your rejected petition: View your rejected petition

After detailed consultation with my co-citizens it has been agreed that I will continue pursuing the Petitions Committee for a response to questions raised over these rejected petitions. I will also continue pursuing my local MP for an EDM (Early Day Motion). Finally, I will also complete reviewing a book written by my co-citizen Younis Taryaby which sheds light on the British role in dividing Jammu and Kashmir and denying the right of rule to its people.

Meanwhile, I am now going to make my 3rd and final attempt - using this online petition medium - to effectively ask the UK to take their share of responsibility in resolving this unavoidable dispute.

Here's the text of my final online petition to the UK parliament:

(Update 06/09/19 at 0505hrs): 

We are still deliberating over the text of this petition.

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Having said all that, a lot has happened in London today, which provides indication of a far more assertive Kashmiri or internal or AJK or J & K narrative.

It has been widely reported that 3 conformist (conforming to the Pakistani narrative) politicians of AJK; namely the current AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider, a previous PM of AJK Barrister Sultan and the leader of the opposition in AJK's assembly Choudhary Yasin were not permitted to speak at the march today, which formed a large procession beginning from Hyde Park via Parliament Square to the Indian High Commission in Aldwych:



Here's another angle:



We will have to assess to what extent was this an endeavour by the Jammu & Kashmir diaspora and how much of it - if at all - was encouraged in a practical sense by the Pakistani State. We understand that there was a code of conduct agreed upon many days ago, that there wouldn't be any other country's flag used in the march, except that recognised as the flag of 'Azad Kashmir'.

Here's an example of the very few exceptions:



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