Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman was speaking at a reception hosted in his honour by Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan at the High Commission here on Friday evening.
He said the post 9/11 events have posed new challenges to projecting the Kashmir issue and due to Pakistan's own pressing problems in relations to war on terrorism and extremism, the matter has been pushed back.
Fazl said the special committee on Kashmir has been endeavouring to put back Kashmir as a top priority foreign policy issue. In this regard, he mentioned that the members of the Committee had been visiting foreign capitals to highlight the problem and seek international attention.
He was of the view that Kashmir must remain focal point of Pakistan's foreign policy because the subject was linked to both regional and global peace.
The Chairman Kashmir Committee told the gathering that during the last six decades, a number of rounds of talks were held between Pakistan and India on Kashmir,but all ended without any progress because of the intransigency of India. And for the past two years, these composite dialogues have completed stalled, he added.
He stressed that Kashmir is not a territorial problem as it is related to human rights violation involving around 14 million Kashmiris.
Fazl-ur-Rehman appealed to the world community to pressure India to withdraw forces from the Occupied Kashmir, stop state terrorism and allow human rights organisations to visit the Valley and resolve Kashmir issue.
"The international community should monitor the Indo-Pak dialogue and compel India to be serious in making the dialogue meaningful and result oriented," he said.
He further said the mass movement continuing since 2008 has exposed Indian propaganda that the upsurge in the occupied Kashmir is a terrorist movement sponsored from abroad.
British MP from Birmingham Yasmin Qureshi also spoke on the occasion and pledged to raise the issue in the House of Commons. She was of the view that people of Kashmir should decide their own destiny adding that there could be no stability or tranquillity in the region without first solving this issue.
The newly-appointed member of the upper House of Lords, Lord Qurban Hussain said the Kashmir issue has always been dear to him since his roots originate from Kashmir.
It will be my endeavour to get India to agree to bring an end to human right violations and release all the prisoners, he said adding that he will strive to serve the cause of Kashmir as long as he remains a member of British Parliament.
MNA Aamir Magsi, a member of delegation, and Mahmood Riaz, Azad Kashmir Minister for Information, also spoke on the occasion and stressed on the need to create more awareness about the Kashmir issue both at home and abroad.
