The peace bus was received by delegations from Amsterdam led by Councillor Qamar Mahmood Raja, another delegation led by Zeb Khan from The Hague and from Frankfurt led by Raja Mahmoud. A large number of Pakistani and Kashmiri communities arrived from Paris to meet the peace-bus and joined the peaceful procession in front of the European Parliament. The procession proceeded for 15 minutes and reached the front gate of the European Parliament where they were met by ten European Members of Parliament such as Linda McAvan, Irelene McKarthy and Lislyn, and others. Five Members addressed the crowd supporting the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people. Mr. Cashman, MEP, told the crowd that he supports a free, fair and impartial plebiscite for the Kashmiri people. Lislyn, another MEP, said that there is no rights for the land, but it is the right of the people and until the people of Kashmir is given that right the Members of European Parliament will continue their support for the people of this war-ton region.

The leader of the Peace March, Lord Ahmed, was asked to bring about 18 representatives from the various political, religious and regional groups of the procession to meet with the European Parliamentarians and representatives of the EU Commission, Mr. Chris Patten, Commissioner of Foreign Relations. Meeting was held in Room No. N3.4 and the Nobel Prize –winner, John Hume, from Northern Ireland spoke to the group. He said that no election can be fair under the current condition of 700,000 Indian soldiers who are accused of illegal extra-judicial killings, rape and torture. He said that it is essential to have international monitors to observe the elections, otherwise the credibility of such elections will be at stake. The meeting was jointly chaired by Ms. Linda and Irelene. Over 10 MEPs attended the meeting and expressed their support for the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

In this connection, Lord Ahmed referred to a recent London visit of L.K. Advani, the Deputy Prime Minister of India, who made, in an interview, allegations about Kashmiris who are allegedly collecting money for the Kashmiris struggling for the right of self-determination. Lord Ahmed said, “I am standing for the Kashmiri people in the United Kingdom and for all the Muslims who are collecting money for the oppressed people, for the orphans, and for the Indian people. I am urging the government and any other agencies to investigate those Hindu fanatics, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and RSS who have been collecting money for their ethnic cleansing programme in Gujarat and also in Kashmir. They have collected gold bricks from Bradford, collected money from Southall and Bradford. Evidences are there.”

America’s double standard revealed New York: According to the FBI, a Florida doctor arrested after police found more than 15 homemade explosive devices in his home allegedly drafted a detailed plan to blow up an Islamic educational centre. The search of Robert J. Goldstein’s residence also turned up a list of about 50 Islamic worship centres in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and other locations in Florida. According to the damning evidence against the Florida podiatrist, there should be absolutely no hesitation in classifying Goldstein as a “terrorist”. Yet in news coverage from the Associated Press to CNN, there was not one mention of the word “terrorist” However, if we change one facet of this scenario, we would have a completely different ballgame, comments Arsalan\Tariq Iftikhar of the Houston Chronicle (August 28).

Lord Ahmed wanted to give a clear signal to these fanatics who have killed British citizens as well as ethnically cleansing Christians, Muslims and Sikhs from the Punjab, Gujarat and also Kashmir. “We are also calling upon the European governments to ban these organizations and to really get involved in true peace in Asia because money could be better spent on eradication of poverty, making provision for education and clean water and sanitation rather than wasting in nuclear weapons,” said Lord Ahmed.

In reply to my queries about the goal of his movement, Lord Ahmed explained, “This movement is a movement for the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people; it is a movement to stop the abuse of human rights, stop the rape, torture and killing. This movement has nothing to do with the question whether Kashmir will be with Pakistan or remain independent or whatever. That is a long way ahead. At the moment, we are saying that the killing must be stopped, rape and torture must be stopped and Kashmiris should be given free and fair plebiscite. You can see from our banners. We are asking human rights organizations to be allowed in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.”