By IANS
Brussels : The plight of people living in the Gilgit and Baltistan areas of northern Kashmir will be in focus at a two-day conference on that begins at the European Parliament here later Tuesday.
The International Kashmir Alliance (IKA) in a statement said it has taken this initiative to “highlight the plight and miseries of the people of Gilgit Baltistan and constitutional and political deprivation of these areas”, EuAsiaNews reported.
Members of the European Parliament from all political groups, civil society organisations, journalists, intellectuals and academicians from all over the world including Kashmiri diaspora are expected to participate, it noted.
The constitutional, political and socio-economic conditions in Gilgit Baltistan are expected to be discussed.
Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, IKA secretary general, in a statement said that since the European Parliament has approved a very strong resolution on Kashmir, it is time to knock on the doors of world’s most influential institutions like the European Parliament to seek help to end difficulties of the people through peaceful and meaningful methods.
He said that Gilgit Baltistan “is part and parcel of Jammu Kashmir and people of this region have suffered a lot under undemocratic rule of Pakistan”.
Ali, who is based in Switzerland, noted that it is the responsibility of every conscious Kashmiri to raise their voice in support of constitutional, political and socio-economic empowerment of the people of this region.