PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice joined hundreds of people at Nelson Civic Hall to celebrate the Independence of Pakistan 53 years ago.

The MP, who shared the platform with Burnley MP Peter Pike and the Pakistan Consul in Manchester, Jamil Ahmed Khan, told the audience: "We are old friends and modern partners."

The Mayors of Burnley and Pendle also attended the event along with other leading community figures.

Mr Prentice spoke out about local concerns such as the barriers into employment facing young Asian people and women's participation in the workforce.

He said: "Girls have to see women in positions of authority and influence. Boys have got an endless number of role models." The MP told the gathering that people from Pakistan had made a huge and beneficial impact in Britain and that people from all walks of life have made a contribution -- not just the doctors and accountants.

He also referred to the conflict in Kashmir and said there could not be long-term peace or prosperity in the region without a resolution of the conflict.

He said: "The Indians regard Jammu and Kashmir as part and parcel of the Indian Union. But we should give the people living there the right to decide their own future

"There should be a plebiscite as promised in the UN resolutions."

Mr Prentice said India's ambitions to join the UN Security Council as a permanent member should not be allowed so long as that country was in breach of UN resolutions.

"India says the UN resolutions have been overtaken by events and that the starting point is the Simla agreement of 1972 which committed both countries to bi-lateral talks.

"That is no way forward. We need to involve actively the international community to help broker a solution to this bloody conflict, which has claimed too many lives for too long."