After a busy week of fairly routine political events and lots of Christmas related activities I attended a meeting of the North West Regional Committee of the Jammu Kashmir Self Determination Movement at Manchester Town Hall. The Chairman is Raja Najabat Hussain who was a member of the Yorkshire and Humberside team with me when I contested the 1999 European Elections.
Jammu Kashmir is a disputed area of territory between India and Pakistan. Whilst I appreciate there are always two sides to every story since I began studying the history of the region several years ago it has always seemed to me that the best way to try and resolve this long running dispute would be if there could be a vote of all the peoples in the disputed territory at which they could be given a choice of options about their future governance. There is more information about the organisation on their website here.
Incidentally, a Happy New Year to all Muslims as yesterday was the equivalent of New Years Day in the Islamic Calendar where the year is 1431.
David Nuttall 