People's Justice Party (UK)
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The People's Justice Party (PJP) are a minor political party operating in the United Kingdom. They were formed in 1998 and grew out of Justice for Kashmir, which changed its name to the Justice Party before finally settling on its current name.
It operates mainly in the Birmingham area, where they have won a few council seats from the Labour Party, drawing its support mainly from the sizeable Kashmiri population in the city (there are some 90,000 residents of Kashmiri descent in Birmingham).
The party platform is based on an appeal for votes on two fronts: local and international. They promise 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 this very issue that prompted their formation. Before being named Justice for Kashmir the group were entitled, the Free Riaz and Quayyam Campaign.
The PJP were also active in anti-war activity at the time of the American led campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The PJP are led by Shaukat Ali Khan on Birmingham council. Ali Khan used to be a member of the Labour Party, as did many other PJP members. These 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 Indian and Pakistani tensions around Kashmir, and what they perceive as a failure to improve the lives of the Kashmiri population in Birmingham.
Some have criticised them for being focussed on only one ethnic group to the exclusion of others, but the PJP insists it is a secular organisation, although they have themselves admitted that at least half their votes come from the Birmingham Kashmiri population.