Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne
European Parliament's rapporteur on Jammu and Kashmir
New Delhi
28 June 2006
Pakistan towards a rapprochement but will not "step in uninvited" to mediate, according
to European Parliament's rapporteur on Jammu and Kashmir Baroness Emma Nicholson
of Winterbourne.
She, however, believes the EU has the right credentials for facilitating reconciliation and
refers the "excellent mediating skills" displayed by the EU in negotiations with Iran on
the nuclear issue as a case in point. She is in India to prepare a dossier on Jammu and
Kashmir for the benefit of European Parliament.
In an interview to this newspaper, Baroness Nicholson says her report on J&K will focus
on political issues like terrorism, democracy and human rights. She has visited Pakistan
and met with Premier Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. In
New Delhi she has met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Iran and Afghanistan also figured in her discussions with Dr Singh. In Islamabad she
discussed Indo-Pak confidence building measures with the Pakistani leaders and
recounts how during her travel to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir she "saw first hand" a bus
ferrying passengers across the Line of Control.
Baroness Nicholson's observations bear a similarity to to European Parliament's
resolutions in the past. For instance, the October 2001 resolution on Kashmir read, "[The
European Parliament] asks the EU to [act] as an honest broker to both India and Pakistan
with a view to facilitating the process".
A more recent resolution dated November 17, 2005, in turn, read: "[EU] calls [on India
and Pakistan] to continue with the process that should, while involving the population
concerned, lead to a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue". Pakistan has urged the
EU to remain engaged in the Kashmir issue.
Incidentally, Baroness Nicholson's visit to India comes 60 years after her father Sir
Godfrey Nicholson was sent by the British Crown to know first hand what Indians thought
about the British rule. Arriving in 1946, he escaped his official handlers to spend three
months in villages talking to people.
"I am here to listen too," she asserts before venturing to give details about how she
intends to divide her time talking to J&K Governor Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha and going to
the refugee camps. Her "modest" but "serious" report, she adds, will be used like "a
tuning fork to strike the right vibrations" among EU lawmakers.
Baroness Nicholson is a British politician and Member of European Parliament. She is
vice chairman of European Parliament's committee on foreign affairs and a member of
sub-committee on human rights. She was appointed rapporteur on Jammu and Kashmir
earlier this year.
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