King’s Speech

Lord Hussain Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hussain (LD)]

My Lords, I am also pleased to see the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, in his position after the reshuffle.

It was a pleasure to listen to the first King’s Speech by His Majesty King Charles III. This year it coincided with Remembrance Week, which reminds us all of the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for our safe future, leaving their own families and loved ones to face the hard reality of post-war devastation, hardships and insecurity. My own family, which lived in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, was among those that suffered the human loss, hardship and misery of the Second World War. My late father was 15 when the war began and his newly wed elder brother, Allah Ditta, joined the British Army to defend the Crown. Allah Ditta was the only breadwinner for the family of 10.

In 1941 the family received the last letter from my uncle, sent from the Port of Karachi, saying that he was about to go on a mission and would write again soon. Instead, from 1942 the Army periodically wrote to his wife asking whether she had heard from him or knew his whereabouts, as he had gone missing. This added to the family’s agony and pain, leaving my father to take the financial burden and the responsibility of their well-being. Lack of sufficient income and medical care, and the smallpox epidemic in the area, resulted in hunger, malnutrition and the death of two of his younger brothers, while Uncle Ditta’s wife was blinded by smallpox.

Finally, when the war ended, our family was informed by the British Army that it could now confirm that in 1941 a group of British soldiers including Allah Ditta was ambushed by Japanese forces during a patrol duty in the state of Rakhine in Burma. The Army did not know about the incident or the whereabouts of the missing soldiers until close to the end of the war in 1945, when a rescue operation was conducted for the release of these prisoners. Sadly, my uncle, Allah Ditta, had died during the rescue operation. The news came as a bombshell to the family, leaving his mother, his blinded wife and the rest of the family in a shock and trauma that left scars in their memories for the rest of their lives.

In 2001, 56 years later, we came to know, through research done by my brother, that my uncle was remembered on a panel at the Commonwealth war graves site in Rangoon, Burma. That year I accompanied my father to the memorial in Rangoon, which provided the long overdue closure that my father was yearning for. After the war, my family witnessed the partition of India, the war in Kashmir in 1948 to 1949, the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971 and the oppression and human loss in Indian-held Kashmir right up to now. Wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine have caused huge human disasters, killing millions of people. Having watched wars, bloodshed and human suffering so closely makes me a stronger advocate for peace.

As we speak, the war in Gaza and Israel has become one of the deadliest wars of our lifetime. Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October, hundreds of people, including women and children, are being killed in residential blocks, schools, mosques, churches and hospitals. Even water, medicine and fuel are not allowed into Gaza by Israel. This is a human catastrophe and it is against international law. This is happening while world leaders are playing with words.

I strongly believe that there is no military solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. The current situation in Gaza and Israel requires an immediate ceasefire to address the humanitarian catastrophe. The call for a ceasefire is backed by multiple UN agencies, nearly 700 NGOs globally, Pope Francis, the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury, more than 250 British lawyers—including eminent Jewish lawyers—120 countries that voted in favour of the UN General Assembly motion and 76% of the British public. A ceasefire should not be the end goal in itself but a chance to end the violence, ensure unfettered humanitarian assistance, get the hostages released and begin the process for a new political reality for Palestine.