Lets see what he has to say

From Lord Avebury P0622072

Tel 020-274 4617
Email ericavebury@gmail.com


July 22, 2006


Thank you for your letter of July 12 about the prohibition of the JKLF in the Azad Kashmir elections.

You say this is an internal issue, but you have also said that the wishes of the people of Kashmir should be taken into account in a lasting solution of the dispute over Kashmir [Feb 27, 2006 306W] and that ‘there can be no agreement without the involvement of the people of Kashmir [June 21, 2006, col 649]. Please can you explain how the wishes of the people are to be ascertained, when the authorities on both sides of the LoC prohibit the articulation of a particular view on the future constitutional status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir? It is likely that candidates who advocate the independence of the State would receive a substantial vote in Azad Kashmir if they were allowed to stand, so why do you consider this to be an internal issue, when it is clearly a necessary condition for the wishes of the people to be ascertained?




Dr Kim Howells MP,
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
London SW1A 2AH.