EDM 368: Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly elections

That this House recognises the right to self-determination for Kashmiris; notes that since the partition of 1947, the region and population of Kashmir have been divided between three countries; further notes that Indian-occupied Kashmir is the most militarised zone in the world; opposes the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35a of the Indian Constitution that revoked Kashmir’s special status; decries the use of sweeping arrest powers, disappearances, torture, extra-judicial killings and other grave human rights violations against dissidents; also notes with particular concern the detention of journalists and political leaders such as JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik on an indefinite hunger strike protesting insufficient medical facilities in his Delhi jail, and the erosion of freedoms of speech, expression and the press; observes the election of a new J&K coalition government, and recognises the appointment of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on an anti-abrogation mandate; supports UN Security Council Resolution 47, ruling that the future of J&K should be decided by its own people through democratic means of a free and impartial plebiscite; regrets the lack of action over seven decades, further entrenching injustice; acknowledges the large British Kashmiri diaspora in Britain and their aspirations for a just settlement; calls on the Government to push for a resolution to the ongoing occupation, end the impunity granted to Indian armed forces in Kashmir and prioritise the aspirations of Kashmiris; and further calls on the Government to use its Presidency of the United Nations Security Council to implement the rulings of UN Security Council 47.