At the London protest, a parliamentary delegation of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir, led by Lord Ahmed, will hand over a petition addressed to the President of India - demanding that the Indian government give back the mortal remains of the Kashmiri leader to his family. The parliamentary petition in question has been signed by 33 British Members of Parliament and Peers, and Members of the Euopean Parliament. The leaders include Lord Nazir Ahmed, Lord Qurban Hussain, Lord Bill McKenzie, Linda McAvan (MEP), Sir Gerald Kaufman, Graham Stringer, and Sarah Champion.  

A part from the protest, a seminar on the life and legacy of Maqbool Butt Shaheed will be held in the House of Lords (Room 1) at 6 pm to remember his 29th death anniversary.

Maqbool Butt, a revered Kashmir leader was imprisoned in Pakistan for his radical views and was termed as an ‘enemy agent’ there. Despite his anti-Pakistan leanings, he was hanged by India on 11 February, 1984 - a week before his 46th birthday. He was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where he had been imprisoned for 8 years - while waiting for his trial.

After Maqbool Butt was hanged in 1984, Indian authorities did not hand over his body to his relatives. He was buried inside the Tihar jail, and a petition in high court - desiring to remove and take his remains to his birthplace, was not taken forward. Following his death, local UK news reports said that 'thousands' of people from Kashmir came on the streets to protest.