A LEADING campaigner for Kashmiri rights has written to the Prime Minister and other political leaders telling them about the massacre of 22 people in his home village.

Mohammed Aslam, secretary of the Pendle Kashmir Working Group, was horrified when he was told about the killings by his cousin.

Members of his family escaped unhurt, but Mr Aslam, who lives in Nelson, said he knew some of the people affected by the unprovoked attack in a village called Bandala, in the disputed Kashmir area.

He has written to Mr Blair, William Hague and Paddy Ashdown to draw their attention to the atrocity as part of a continued campaign to highlight human rights abuses in the war-torn territory.

Mr Aslam said: "At about midnight a group of terrorists came into the village while people were asleep outside their homes. My cousin said they stabbed people and then fired silenced pistols at their bodies."

Mr Aslam said villagers believed Indians were behind the attack. "There was a group of men playing cards who heard something and went to see what was happening," he said. "They said the terrorists were wearing black uniforms. One of them was wearing a wristwatch set to Indian time and the shells left behind were made in India.

"They think it might have been a revenge attack, but what kind of revenge is it to do this to innocent people?

"These poor people are living very difficult lives. Everyone over here is very much worried about these events."

Mr Aslam criticised proposals to remove United Nations observers from the area.

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