Kashmir

Mir Junaid briefs European Union Parliamentarians on Empowering Grassroots Democracy

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) — Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party President, Mir Junaid, briefed over 12 EU Parliamentarians on the empowering of Grassroots Democracy in Kashmir and the crucial road map for development that is being undertaken by the government.

The Parliamentarians included MEPs Salvatore de Meo, MEP Regimenti, MEP Caterina Chinnici. There was also a representative from the cabinet of the president of the EU parliament Mrs RobertaMetsola.

The event was attended by curious members of the diplomatic community in Brussels who closely follow developments in South Asia and India in general.

The debate was moderated by Manel Msalmi, the international affairs advisor who stressed the fact that today we are fortunate to have political representatives from the region of Kashmir who are here with us to explain these interesting facts about Indian democracy. Msalmi said that in the past 3 years, there have been some phenomenal changes made at the Grassroots level to effect and impact the lives of common citizens. Today, we shall try and understand how these changes have been put into effect for a brighter future of Kashmiris. Mep Daniela Rondinelli opened the debate by welcoming the Kashmiri delegation and mentioning the efforts of youth and female leaders to establish peace and dialogue and to build a brighter future for the coming generations as well as the need to work closely with the EU to maintain peace and security in the region.

According to news agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC), while speaking on the occasion, Mir Junaid, mentioned, “We are growing and we are coming together and standing up despite the threat of terror from across the border. What we seek is support from the world in our journey to stability. Our only enemy is terrorism and the world must not forget that terrorism anywhere is a threat to the whole humanity and must not be allowed to exist at any cost in any part of the world for peace and harmony to exist.”

Members of Parliament Annalisa Tardino, Caterina Chinnici and Luisa Regimenti as well as Salvatore de Meo, member of EU delegation to India showed their commitment to supporting women’s rights and youth leadership in Kashmir and congratulated Mir Junaid for his honest efforts in maintaining peace in the region.

They said that they understand that progressive ideas and people’s representation can be the game changer in Kashmir and that they are happy to note that a definite road map has been built to give shape to the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and align it with the development story of the rest of India. The conference was followed by a debate with the presence of the Indian diaspora in Belgium as well as the European young leaders who asked so many questions to the speaker and were happy to learn about the story of Kashmir and about young people there. — (KDC)