LONDON: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Amanullah Khan has said the Indian Government has no right to demand his extradition on the basis of an alleged crime committed in Jammu and Kashmir “which as it is not a part of India.”
Khan spoke through his counsel, Van Der Veeran, before a three member Chamber of Indictment in Brussels on Dec. 16.
The Chamber of Indictment is expected to make recommendations the Justice Ministry within a week. Its recommendations, which are confidential, will be debated by the Cabinet next month, the officials said.
Arguments were presented before the bench over Khan’s extradition, Khan, who was present at the trial, did not describe himself as a Pakistani but as a citizen of “Pakistan administered Kashmir,” officials in Brussels said.
Der Veeren, who presented Khan’s arguments that Kashmir was not a part of India, also said the Interpol warrant was based on hearsay and there was no prima facie case against his client. He quoted from former Governor Jagmohan’s book on Kashmir to argue that the Indian Government had sought extradition of Khan from the US earlier but this was denied.
Khan spoke briefly. He said he would not receive a fair trial in India and that he would not be safe there. Khan said the Kashmiris’ Ought for Independence was no different from India’s fight for independence from British Nile.
The Indian Government was not represented at the hearings. The case for Khan’s extradition was argued by Advocate General V.Hueness, according to the legal convention in Belgium, Hueness argued that Kashmir was very much a part of India and that its judicial system was independent and trustworthy, the officials said.
He argued that the Indian Government had never sought Khan’s extradition from the US but had simply asked for an arrest warrant, He appealed for the extradition on the grounds of the Indian charge contained in the Interpol report.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 24, 1993
