People's Justice Party (UK)
Encyclopedia
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 1998 to 2006. It was formed in 1998 and grew out of Justice for Kashmir, which changed its name to the Justice Party before settling on its final name.
It operated mainly in the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
area, where it won a few council seats from the Labour Party, drawing its support mainly from the sizable Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
i population in the city (there are some 90,000 residents of Kashmiri descent in Birmingham).
The party platform was based on an appeal for votes on two fronts: local and international. It promised single-sex schools for girls, changes to housing grants, and improved street lighting beside commitments to campaign for self-determination for Kashmir, the formation of a Palestinian state and the release of two Kashmiris (Mohammed Riaz and Quayyam Raja) imprisoned in 1984 for their role in the killing of an Indian diplomat. Indeed, it was that very issue that prompted their formation—before being named Justice for Kashmir, the group was entitled, the Free Riaz and Quayyam Campaign.
The PJP was also active in the anti-war activity at the time of the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
led campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
The PJP was led on Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
by Shaukat Ali Khan. Ali Khan was formerly a member of the Labour Party, as were many other PJP members. Those ex-Labour members of the PJP decided to form a new party in response to what they felt was a failure by the Labour government in the UK to deal adequately with the ongoing India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i tensions around Kashmir, and what they perceive as a failure to improve the lives of the Kashmiri population in Birmingham.
Some people criticised it for being focussed on only one ethnic group to the exclusion of others, although the PJP itself admitted that at least half their votes come from the Birmingham Kashmiri population. It claimed to be a secular organisation.
The PJP lost all of its seats in the 2004 Birmingham City Council election, but following the finding of postal vote fraud in Aston
Aston
Aston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
and Bordesley Green
Bordesley Green
Bordesley Green is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England about two miles south-east from the city centre. It also contains a road of the same name. It is also a ward in the formal district of Hodge Hill. Neighbouring areas include, Alum Rock, Saltley, Small Heath and Yardley.Heartlands Hospital...
, by-elections were held in both wards in July 2005 with the PJP seeing two of its three candidates—Shaukat Ali Khan and Mohammed Saeed—elected in Bordesley Green.
The party was dissolved in March 2006, with many of its members, including both councillors, joining the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
. PJP group leader Shaukat Ali Khan said talks about disbanding the party began when members worked closely with the Liberal Democrats to expose New Labour's postal vote fraud in Aston and Bordesley Green.
The founder member was Mr Allah Dita Khan and Mr Skintaj and Mr Rajasab Ali of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan.
External links
- Council Lib Dems joined by PJP pair News announcing the disbanding of the People's Justice Party and its joining the Liberal Democrats 13 March 2006