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Debate on the Address

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Jay of Ewelme. I congratulate him on his thoughtful and expert speech. The noble Lord has had a distinguished career in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as a Permanent Under-Secretary of State. He brings a huge experience of the FCO, the IMF and development. We look forward to his expert contribution in your Lordships’ House. I thank our Government for their efforts and support for Kosovo’s struggle to gain its status as an equal and sovereign republic in the family of nations. We must make sure that the process is concluded successfully, without Kosovans of all ethnicities and religions being left in limbo. An independent, democratic, multi-ethnic and functional Kosovo will make a serious contribution towards the stability of the Balkans. I also emphasise my delight at the Government’s support for the start of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations. I hope that the Government carry on their determination that talks should continue. It will contribute substantially to the democratic, economic and social improvement of Turkey; however, enthusiasm for joining is fast fading away due to the prejudice of old Europe, as we have seen. The British Government’s help and support after the earthquake in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on8 October 2005 has been warmly welcome. Our rescue teams were the first to arrive in Islamabad and they saved lives. Our helicopters and NATO engineers helped to open the difficult roads and to help with rehabilitation. The Government have committed over £70 million for reconstruction, which is appreciatedin Pakistan. I thank the Disasters Emergency Committee for its efforts in saving lives and providing much-needed help. Many Islamic charities and community centres also provided generous financial support. In 2006, besides the above-mentioned good news, unfortunately the world has witnessed more negative developments. In that regard, I would like also to say a few words on Kashmir and Afghanistan before I comment on the Middle East. After coming to the brink of war in 2002, India and Pakistan announced peace talks in January 2004 on a number of matters, including Kashmir. However, since then, no constructive step has been taken by the two parties to resolve the issue of Kashmir. I welcome the Government’s support for reviving the talks between the two countries and I hope that our Government will continue to encourage the Governments of India and Pakistan to include the Kasmiri leadership in those important talks. Perhaps I may request that we call for demilitarisation of the entire state of Kashmir by both countries. Similarly, the situation in Afghanistan, as we have heard time after time, also seems far from the peace and stability desperately desired by its citizens and the international community. Although operations have continued the fight against terrorism under the NATO umbrella, security cannot be maintained in that country. In addition to increased unrest, summer droughts and flooding have dealt further damage to the economic and social situation of the Afghani people. This year, the death toll in Afghanistan quadrupled. Since January 2006, some 3,700 have people died; 1000 of them were civilians. As part of the coalition forces, it is the responsibility of Britain to obtain peace and stability in Afghanistan. Therefore, the continuation of meetings with tribal leaders while obtaining peace is crucial. The fight against terrorism will not be won without dealing with the causes. Military power alone will not succeed; we must deal with state terrorism as well. We handed over power to the Northern Alliance but ignored the majority of Pashtuns. We have to find ways to encourage the foot soldiers of the Taliban to put down their arms and engage in a political process. The past 12 months have been difficult for the Middle East, whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza or Ramallah. When the Prime Minister talks about young Muslims in this country and around the world as having a false sense of grievance, I wonder whether he really thinks that what we have done in Iraq and Lebanon, and our support—or lack of support—for the peace initiative in the Middle East, has not been considered. In south Lebanon, when two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, we forgot that thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese had been abducted and put in Israeli jails. The Prime Minister was prepared to meet the families of the two soldiers, but I am sorry that he did not meet the young girl whose family was killed on the beach of Gaza. He did not meet the thousands of families whose loved ones are in Israeli prisons. When the United Nations Secretary-General and the rest of the world were calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, I was sorry that we followed the United States and Israel and refused to call for the same. This is not only a matter of concern to the Muslim community in Britain and young Muslims; the majority of the British public was calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. We have been silent over the Israeli incursions that are happening in Gaza and the West Bank as we speak and which have continued for the past five months. Since June 2006, the Israeli army haskilled 342 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including64 children and 15 women, and wounded some 1,186 civilians, including 344 children and 49 women. I wish to make one final point. Unless we involve the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim countries in rebuilding Iraq, peacekeeping or achieving a final solution the job will be very difficult.