Kashmir report backed by Foreign Affairs Committee in European Parliament

2.00.00pm GMT Wed 21st Mar 2007

Liberal Democrats have welcomed the overwhelming backing of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee for the important report by Lib Dem MEP Emma Nicholson on Kashmir.

The Committee backed the Nicholson Report by 60 votes to 1.

Commenting, Baroness Nicholson said:

"I am delighted that my colleagues and I have reached an appropriate compromise on such a delicate issue.

"The final report balances the need for more democracy in Pakistan with promotion of the rights of the Kashmiri people. I look forward to consolidation of this line when the report comes to be voted on by the whole of the European Parliament in May."

Commenting on the vote, Andrew Duff, Leader of the Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party, said:

"It is to the credit of the rapporteur that she has joined together with colleagues from all parties to produce an impartial and balanced report on the distressing situation in Kashmir.

"The European Parliament has reaffirmed the primacy of the UN, including the principle of democratic self-determination of the Kashmiri people, the rights of refugees and displaced people, and the fight for democracy against corruption and human rights abuses. Our central concern is for the fundamental rights of Kashmiris to be respected, and for the EU to increase its efforts to enhance the social and economic development of the people. MEPs want the EU, above all, to back the peace process."

ENDS