Welcome

Hello, Assalam Alekum,
Tomorrow I depart from Manchester Airport and fly to Islamabad. I am traveling with some trepidation because last time i visited Pakistan and Azad Kashmir- i was saddened and shocked by the sight of such massive destruction and in comparable hardship for the thousands of people whose lives had been destroyed.
I am hoping that things will have improved but i know that a very large number of people are still, a year and a half later, living in temporary accommodation- tents.
As you will know i am also standing in the local council elections in Burngreave and it is difficult to leave during an election campaign- but we have worked on this project for over a year and continue to raise the forgotten disaster.
I suppose i have made it my mission, alongside other friends, to raise the profile of Kashmir a land where one of the biggest and most brutal occupations is taking place, an occupation rarely mentioned and a people who have suffered for to long.
I believe that the people of Kashmir should have the right to self determination and that the governments hypocrisy is breath taking,for some countries like India and Israel who are in Breach of UN resolutions are traded arms whilst others are invaded.
It saddened me greatly that a people who have suffered so long then suffered the tragic earthquake that hit in October 2005.
But worse still was the media coverage- it has been the forgotten disaster- for it appears that the only images the press were interested in are the images which demonise all Muslims and their religion. to me this is about humanity.
For tony Blair and George Bush it seems their is a bottomless well of money for war and trident- but very little when it comes to thousands of people who lives have been devastated- their cries remain unheard and that's why i am going back to Azad Kashmir and Bagh in particular where we have established 5 sewing schools and are in the process of raising the money to rebuild a girls College- Sheffield girls College- a gift from the people of Sheffield - flying in the face of what i believe has become almost a respectable form of racism Islamaphobia.