UK: PoK representatives embarrassed, asked by Pakistani diplomat to leave conference on Kashmir

Representatives from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) had to face embarrassing moments here on Monday as they were asked by a Pakistani diplomat to leave a conference held to vent Pakistani propaganda on Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

The representatives were told by the diplomat that they were a "security risk" at the event attended by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the Committee Room of House of Commons in London.

Apart from a few other Parliamentarians, there were some members of PoK Assembly and Pakistan National Assembly. The audience overwhelmingly consisted of British Pakistanis and British Kashmiris from PoK who needed no lecture on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

A delegation of Kashmiri nationalists from the platform of Jammu Kashmir National Independence Alliance also went to attend the Conference.

Mahmood Kashmiri, Chairman of JKNIA and other office bearers, former Councillor Ghulam Hussain, Dr Misfar Hassan and Sardar Amjad Yousaf are peaceful people and went there to hear what Pakistanis and their Kashmiri supporters had to say on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

A Pakistani diplomat approached Mahmood Kashmiri and asked if he was Mahmood Kashmiri? When he replied in the affirmative, the Pakistani diplomat, most likely an operative of Inter-Services Intelligence requested Kashmiri to step outside as someone wanted to talk to him.

When Kashmiri refused and stated whoever wanted to talk to him could do so inside, the 'diplomat' went out and returned with two uniformed policemen who asked the JKNIA delegation to leave the conference room since they were a "security risk."

The delegation of the JKNIA was forced to leave the conference room where Pakistanis were disseminating lies and distorted stories on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

Member of Parliament from Burnley, Julie Cooper protested and said it was against the British democratic norms and right of expression. She also walked out to express her solidarity with the JKNIA delegation.

Soon after this, a rumour spread that 'Indian agents' who had come to disrupt the Kashmir Conference were expelled from the conference.

JKNIA delegation met some MPs after the Conference and briefed them about this incident. They also plan a demonstration outside 10 Downing Street between 11 am and 4 pm.