OFFICIALS were today urged to remember the fate of student hostage Paul Wells during the 50th anniversary celebrations of India and Pakistan.
Paul's father Bob Wells said the events which led to the anniversary also sparked the kidnapping of Paul and the other Westerners by militants.
Paul, Middlesbrough man Keith Mangan, German Dirk Hasert and American Donald Hutchings were seized in July 1995 by guerillas fighting for the independence of the Indian state of Jammu Kashmir.
"My son's capture was a direct result of the struggle for independence," said Mr Wells, of Bracken Close, Feniscowles.
Today marked the 50th anniversary of India's independence from Great Britain and the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan.
The independent state of Kashmir was split into Pakistani-controlled Azad Kashmir and Indian-governed Jammu Kashmir in 1947.
The people of Azad Kashmir are relatively happy under the rule of predominantly Muslim Pakistan but the struggle by Jammu Kashmir to break free from India has led to years of bloody struggle.
Mr Wells has repeatedly called for the governments of Pakistan, India and Great Britain to work with the people of Jammu Kashmir in seeking a solution.
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