UK students support tough counter-terrorism steps in J-K

Students from different universities located across the United Kingdom, have unanimously called for the introduction and implementation of tighter counter-terrorism policies.

Strongly condemning the growing radicalisation of youth in Jammu and Kashmir and terrorist infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC), the students, in a resolution, "called for an assessment of (current) measures at the LoC in order to address the cross-border terrorism and the illegal transport of arms."

Participating in a day-long conference on the theme, "Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir" organised jointly by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) and the University of Leicester United Nations Society, the students also endorsed the "opening of a trilateral dialogue between China, India and Pakistan on the legality of the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in relation to the disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan."

The resolution also called on both India and Pakistan to de-escalate the level of violence in the region and focus on ensuring protection and respect for human rights.

Director of EFSAS and well-known Kashmiri writer Junaid Qureshi used the platform of the conference to highlight the many acts of violence across Jammu and Kashmir since 19889, and was particularly severe in his criticism of the Pakistan military establishment and allied intelligence agencies "providing arms and training to militants an relocating them to Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The terrorists engaged in communal violence among different religious groups and specific targeting of the Kashmiri Pandits."

Qureshi further described the violence in Jammu and Kashmir as being a "proxy war against India in essence", with Pakistan determined to "impose a heavy political and economic burden" on the former.

He said it was good on the part of the students to deliberate on the initiatives that could liberate the region from terrorism, violence, and fear.

University of Leicester lecturer Dr. Paul Stott gave a historical perspective on the topic, saying terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir could be traced to the time when former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Pakistan in 1981.

He also said British endorsement for a 1993 speaking tour of Masood Azhar of the Harkat ul-Ansar could also be blamed for the growth of the terror menace in Jammu and Kashmir.

He provided several other instances of South Asian attacks and plots with a UK link to back his views.