Author: Indo Asian News Service
Publication: yahoo.com
Date: October 1, 2005
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/051001/43/60dr7.html
Eleven British parliamentarians Saturday visited
a camp housing some 2,000 Hindus who have lived here since fleeing the Kashmir
Valley following threats from terrorists.
The team, led by Andrew Stunnel of the Liberal
Democratic Party, went to the Muthi camp on the outskirts of the city. The
Hindu families live in one-room tenements.
The MPs were moved by the pathetic conditions
at the camp. They asked the inhabitants about their sources of income, chances
of return to their original homes as well as education and employment avenues.
The team would submit a report to the British
government, Stunnel told reporters. He declined to speak further.
The team would return to New Delhi after a
four-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir, where a separatist campaign raging since
1989 has left thousands dead. Thousands of Hindus have fled the Kashmir Valley
since the insurgency began.
The British MPs were in Srinagar till Friday
and they interacted with officials and political leaders.
The team was requested to urge the British
government to remove the advisory asking Britons against visiting Jammu and
Kashmir.