Queen’s Speech

Lord Ahmed Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmed]

My Lords, today the noble Lord, Lord Howell, mentioned the Arab spring, the Middle East, Iran and Afghanistan. I was hoping that the regional stability of South Asia would also have been mentioned due to the great challenges faced by ISAF, NATO and Afghanistan’s neighbours. I realise that there are experts in your Lordships’ House who understand defence and foreign relations strategy much better than me. However, I have made a number of observations about the current situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the unresolved issues between India and Pakistan, particularly the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people as well as the current bigger role cut out for India and the perceived isolation of Pakistan.

I am chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Kashmir. We have received the report by the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir, which documents the buried evidence of 2,700 unknown and unmarked mass graves containing more than 2,943 bodies across 55 villages. These graveyards contain victims of murder and fake encounter killings between 1990 and 2009. The bodies include those extrajudicially, summarily and arbitrarily executed and the victims of massacres committed by Indian military and paramilitary forces. Even in the past 18 months, over 100 peaceful demonstrators have been killed.

Kashmir has remained to be the longest outstanding internationally recognised dispute, and the UN Resolutions of 1948, 1949 and others have remained unimplemented for decades. I welcome the recent dialogue between India and Pakistan; however, the issue of Kashmir must be resolved. The Kashmiri leadership needs to be consulted and included in all future talks by both India and Pakistan. This is essential for the 12 million Kashmiris as well as the over 700,000 British Kashmiris who have consistently supported a UN-sponsored free, fair and impartial plebiscite to decide the future of their people.

Peace and regional stability in South Asia depend on how stakeholders are consulted and their interests sought. According to various media reports, India has been playing an ever increasing role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan, which is detrimental to cohesion in South Asia. Pakistanis feel sandwiched between their eastern boarder and the Afghan border.

Our forces, ISAF, NATO and DfID have contributed greatly to the cause of Afghanistan and the development there. It is important that this legacy be better protected and honoured. The training of the Afghan military in India or by the Indian Army inside Afghanistan can cause unrest with Pakistan. The presence of Baluchi nationalist militants in Afghanistan also concerns the Pakistan authorities. I welcome the invitation to Pakistan to attend the Chicago summit. I understand that there is some progress in discussions with the Government of Pakistan to reopen the Afghan border routes for NATO supplies, which it had closed after the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers at the border.

It is important for any relations to create trust between the countries, but unfortunately there is a problem of trust between Pakistan and its old friends. For example, I understand that in private meetings, the Pakistani leadership has never objected to drone attacks yet, publicly they have always condemned the US for violating the country’s sovereignty. This has sent out the wrong signals inside Pakistan. The current elected Government in Pakistan are weak and dysfunctional, which is why, unfortunately, they lack direction and credibility abroad.

It is right to mention that Pakistan has made a bigger contribution in the loss of lives than any single NATO country or ally. As the front-line state in this “war on terror”, Pakistan has lost over 30,000 civilians and over 5,000 soldiers and police officers. Many estimates of economic and financial losses go beyond $75 billion. We have to remember that Pakistan has housed over 4 million refuges from Afghanistan since 1979, and even today there are more than 2 million refugees in Pakistan. We have to remember that Pakistan has 4 million to 5 million heroin addicts, and the tribal areas have occasionally become no-go areas for the state. Many in Pakistan believe that this is due to the direct influence of its neighbour.

It is in that context that I urge Her Majesty’s Government to continue supporting Pakistan. Geo TV, a Pakistani channel, reported last night that Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was in a meeting with our Prime Minister last week, agreeing terms for resuming NATO supplies through Pakistan. Will the noble Minister confirm whether progress was made in relation to this?

I congratulate the Government and thank them for considering Pakistan and making it the largest recipient of British aid over the next three years, focusing on education, which is desperately needed for the training of teachers, for giving females more opportunity in schools and for helping Pakistan to achieve its millennium development goals. Has Pakistan has been consulted on its role in Afghanistan? Have Her Majesty’s Government encouraged both India and Pakistan to find a permanent solution on the issue of Kashmir?