London, 12 February 2015

Press Secretary,

JKLF UK and Europe Zone

Memorandum to the Prime Minister of United Kingdom on the occasion of  the 31^st death anniversary of the Kashmiri leader Maqbool Butt.

Date: 11 February, 2015

To                                                                                                        

The Prime Minister

Rt. Hon David Cameron

10 Downing St, London

Dear Prime Minister

On behalf of the large British Kashmiri community, who are deeply concerned over the continued conflict, human rights violations and the denial of the internationally pledged right of self-determination to the people of  Jammu-Kashmir, we would like to bring to your attention another unique case of human rights violation in Indian occupied Kashmir.

It has been 31 years since the Indian government executed the Kashmiri independence leader Maqbool Butt on 11^th February, 1984, despite international pleas for clemency, and buried him inside Tihar jail where he was executed, without allowing his immediate family to claim his body (see attached details). 11 February is marked as a Black Day in Kashmir every year and thousands of Kashmiris take out processions and protest rallies to mark his death anniversary, including UK Kashmiris who are once again protesting at the Indian High Commission in London today. Over the last 30 years they have been demanding the return of mortal remains of Maqbool Butt for a proper burial in Kashmir. Last year,  the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir wrote to the president of India to persuade the Indian government to reconsider the matter. All pleas have fallen on deaf ears so far.

We enclose a copy of the joint letter signed by 60 UK and European members of parliament who have joined the campaign to seek the return of mortal remains of the Kashmir leader.

We call upon your office today to plead with you to intervene on humanitarian basis and to exert pressure through diplomatic channels on behalf of UK Kashmiris for the Indian government to allow Maqbool Butt’s ailing mother or his children to remove his mortal remains from Tihar jail to be buried Kashmir.

We look forward to hearing from you favourably.

Yours sincerely ;

Andrew Griffiths, MP  - Chair All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir

Debbie Abrahams, MP – Vice Chair All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir

Azmat A. Khan – President Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (UK & Europe) 

Raja Najabat Hussain   Chair Jammu Kashmir Self-Determination Movement (UK)

London (11 February 2015)

To mark the 31^st martyrdom anniversary of Kashmiri leader Maqbool Butt Shaheed, JKLF UK & Europe Zone organized a protest rally in front of Indian High commission in London. Hundreds of people including women and children from different cities of United Kingdom participated. Protesters shouted slogans of “Stop Killings in Kashmir”, “Handover remains of Maqbool Butt”, “Handover body of Afzal Guru” and in favour of complete independence of Jammu Kashmir.

On this occasion “Torch of Peace” campaign vehicle also drew around UK Parliament, High Commissions, Downing Street (British PM office) and many other important government offices. The vehicles which have been decorated with banners, highlighting Human Rights violations in Kashmir drew lot of attention from the public and present in London.

A petition signed by 60 British & European Union Parliamentarians was also presented to the officials of the high commission on this occasion. The petition asked the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to handover the mortal remain of Maqbool Butt Shaheed to his relatives for proper burial.

Speaking on this occasion, JKLF President in Britain, Prof Azmat Khan, paid rich tributes to Maqbool Butt Shaheed and said that the only way forward for Kashmiri nation is to follow the teachings in practical terms and the ideology of this great Kashmiri leader.

The petition was handed to Indian Authorietis by Prof Azamat Khan, Prof Zafar Khan, Showkat Maqbool Butt (son of Shaheed Maqbool Butt), Sadiq Subhani, Najib Afsar and Irshad Malik. .

On behald of

Press Secretary,

JKLF UK & Europe Zone                     

Email: info@jklf.co.uk

Web: www.jklf.co.uk 

Joint Letter to the President of India, Parnab Mukherjee

From the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir - UK

We the undersigned members of parliament would like to appeal to your office to order the mortal remains of Kashmiri leader, Maqool Butt, who was executed in Tihar jail, on 11th February, 1984 and buried within the jail premises, to be handed back to his family in Kashmir or to his children living in Pakistan. 

We make this appeal on humanitarian grounds as Maqbool Butt’s family members were not allowed to see him at the time of his execution and have waited long enough to receive his dead body for a decent burial in Kashmir.  

Signed:

      

Background Information

India and Pakistan continue to occupy parts of Jammu-Kashmir since 1947, when the British Raj was withdrawn, despite UN agreement and resolutions that have called for ceasation of hostilities and withdrawal of their forces. Over the past 3 decades India has tried to crush the freedom movement in Kashmir by using brutal force and draconian laws. Estimated  90,000 Kashmiri men, women and children have been killed and many of them buried in unmarked mass graves since the popular uprising in 1989.  Thousands have disappeared and many hundereds of Kashmiris are languishing in Indian jails without trial. The history of torture, rape and extra judical killings at the hands of Indian security forces is well documented. (Google: Human rights in Kashmir).     

Several of the pro-independence leaders are have been killed or imprisoned.  In 1984, Maqbool Butt, Kashmir’s most revered leader of the independence movement and a former ‘prisoner of conscience’,  who was imprisoned in Pakistan for his radical views and was labelled as an ‘enemy agent’ there, was hanged by India on 11 February, 1984, exactly one week before his 46^th birthday.  He was executed inside Delhi’s Tihar Jail where he had been imprisoned for 8 years awaiting trial of a politically motivated case against him.  According to Amnesty International Annual Report (1978), who campaigned for his release from prison for many years, he had been sentenced to death for a murder charge under section 3 of the ‘Enemy Agents Ordinance’ and sentenced in absentia. 

In its annual report in 1982, Amnesty International highlighted this case again and stated that “members of political parties have been sentenced to death following conviction for murder”. The death penalty imposed on Maqbool Butt by a Srinagar High Court judge some 14 years earlier  was a cause for concern to AI as there was no apparent appeal for such a sentence under the draconian law.  In its 2008 report entitled, ‘Lethal Lottery; Death Penalty in India’, Amnesty International highlighted the missing record of his appeals in the Indian supreme court and expressed concerns that “no court judgements in his case are available”.

The Maqbool Butt story did not end in 1984 with his hanging.

Indian authorities refused to hand over his body to his relatives and buried him inside Tihar jail.  A petition in high court seeking permission to remove his remains to his birthplace in Tregham, district Kapwara (J&K) was refused by India.  According to ITN news reports thousands of Kashmiris took to the streets of London to protest against Maqbool Butt’s hanging in India in 1984. For the past 30 years JKLF members in UK have regularly petitioned Indian government through its mission in London to demand the return of his remains.  Maqbool Butt’s two brothers, Ghulam Nabi Butt and Manzoor Butt were also killed in Kashmir in the 1990s but his 3 surviving children still live in Pakistan or in Azad Kashmir. With the outbreak of armed movement in J&K in 1988, Maqbool Butt’s grave in Tihar jail became the most revered tomb for Kashmiri prisoners until it was reportedly desecrated by prison authorities a few years ago. For the last 31 years, his death anniversary on 11th February, is commemorated on both sides of Kashmir when Kashmiri men, women and children take out protest rallies in every town and city demanding that his body should be handed over to his family for Islamic burial in Kashmir. All such pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears as did the international pleas not to execute him.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
website: www.JKLF.co.uk
Email: info@jklf.co.uk

(London 03 February 2015):

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) will commemorate the 31^st Martyrdom anniversary of its founder Maqbool Butt Shaheed all around the world. JKLF will hold seminars, public meetings and demonstrations in Indian Held Kashmir, all cities of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, important cities of Pakistan, Europe, Middle East and America.  Amanullah Khan (Supreme Head JKLF) & Chairman Yasin Malik has directed all Zonal, Divisional and District level JKLF office bearers to hold peaceful programmes in order to pay tribute to the martyred leader.

A meeting of JKLF London Branch was held in connection of 11 February preparations. JKLF  London will participate in a protest outside Indian High Commission in London and will also hold public meetings across London. On this occasion, Senior Vice President of JKLF in UK Mahmood Hussain said that we owe it to the future generations of Kashmir to highlight and spread the vision of Maqbool Butt Shaheed for which he and other thousands of Kashmiris laid their lives.

11 February is being commemorated as Maqbool Bhat’s death anniversary. On this day Kashmiris all across the world remember their hero with honour and pride. Maqbool But was hanged by India in Tihar jail on 11 February 1984 and his body was never given to Kashmiris for the burial.

Secretary Information

JKLF (London Branch)