Kashmir-EU Week 2017
The 2017 Kashmir-EU Week was co-hosted by Dr Sajjad Karim (MEP) and Wajid Khan (MEP) and organised by the Kashmir Council-EU. The conference consisted of a series of presentations by prominent experts covering various aspects of the Kashmir conflict and its importance for global peace and security. The main objectives of the conference were to stimulate dialogue between stakeholders and to allow participants to identify and explore a potential role for the European Parliament. Prominent speakers were in attendance, such as the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Raja Farooq Haider, and the Ambassador of Pakistan in Brussels, HE Naghmana Hashmi.
Raising awareness within Europe about the latest developments in the Kashmir dispute and the repercussions the conflict has on the people of Jammu and Kashmir is one of the main avenues to highlight the need for a lasting solution. It is only with international support for an UN supervised transition to stability that this would be accomplished, was one of the first concluding remarks. And the European Union as a global human rights defender was urged to play its role and identify the areas of cooperation that could assist the truth and reconciliation process. One of the first steps and most important one would be to instate a Rapporteur on Kashmir in the Parliament.
In parallel with the Kashmir-EU Week, we hosted a Youth Leadership Forum, an initiative designed to promote a fresh approach, has convened a group of the most promising of tomorrow’s intellectual elite. The Kashmir-EU Week sessions provided them with the opportunity to share the platform with academics, professionals, and diplomats, but also to challenge the current policies and to analyze the strategies to promote a peaceful solution according to the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The forum sensitised the future leaders on the relationship between democracy and ownership and exposed them to the working of democratic institutions in practice. They discussed how the International Community works, especially within the European Parliament, and how their policies could affect change in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Conference programme ended with the preparation of a draft Final Statement to be presented to the European Parliament. The full report is available on our website via the following link: 2017 Kashmir-EU Report.
The photos from the event are now available in the gallery or by clicking here.