People's Justice Party

The People's Justice Party (PJP) was a political party in the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2006. It began in 1998 growing out of a protest movement Justice for Kashmir, which first gave rise to the Justice Party and then the People's Justice Party. The PJP was centered in Birmingham, where it took City Council seats from the long-dominant Labour Party, drawing its support from Birmingham's Kashmiri population; there were some 90,000 residents of Azad Kashmiri descent in Birmingham in this period. History The Party originated in a Free Riaz and Quayyam Campaign to obtain the release of two Kashmiri militants (Mohammed Riaz and Quayyam Raja) belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. The two were imprisoned in 1984 for their role in the kidnapping and killing of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in Birmingham. The group was renamed Justice for Kashmir, then renamed People's Justice Party. On 18 November 2001, the PJP worked with Stop the War Coalition and the loosely organized Islamic Network UK to turn out a large crowd for a rally opposing military response to the 11 September attacks. Success peaked in the 2001 United Kingdom general election, when PJP garnered 13% of the votes in the neighborhoods of Small Heath and Sparkbrook, and held 5 seats on the Birmingham city council.