London
Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has clarified that the Labour Party’s position on Kashmir has not changed and it still supports and recognises UN resolutions on the rights of the Kashmiri people.
Responding to an enquiry from the Muslim Council of Britain over his previous statement made on Kashmir, Labour leader, Keir Starmer, issued a statement clarifying that a lasting settlement may only be reached ‘with the people of Kashmir’.
Keir Starmer, who took over as Labour leader, following the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, has previously said that Kashmir is ‘bilateral issue for India and Pakistan’.
Now in a statement issued in London, the Labour party leader stressed the importance of hearing ‘the voices of the Kashmiri communities’ and upholding respect for international law and human rights.
He asked India and Pakistan to work with the people of Kashmir to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute. Labour leader Keir Starmer has offered to meet parliamentarians from Labour Friends of Kashmir after over 50 MPs and hundreds of elected councillors and activists defied the new Labour leader over his controversial comments on Indian occupied Kashmir.
In a letter to Andrew Gwynne MP, Chair of Labour Friends of Kashmir, Starmer said that he would like to meet the group and hear out their concerns in the wake of his controversial assertion that Indian occupied Kashmir ‘is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan.’
Over 100 British mosques and Islamic centres have signed a letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer saying they would support a call for Muslims.
The letter was issued late on Friday after hundreds of Labour members, councillors and 50 MPs expressed their anger at Starmer’s statements made to the BJP and RSS-linked Hindu Forum of Britain and Labour Friends of India. In the letter, Starmer insisted that Labour’s Kashmir policy remains consistent and there is no change in it.
‘On some of the specific issues that you raise in your letter, I want to be clear that Labour’s policy towards Kashmir remains consistent in the belief that India and Pakistan must work together, with the people of Kashmir, to find a long-term peaceful solution to this ongoing conflict.
Without this approach the hardship and violence that we have seen escalate over the past year will sadly only get worse,’ he said. Starmer added, ‘Labour will always speak out against human rights abuse and attacks on democracy, whenever and wherever they occur. I look forward to building a relationship with you.
I hope you will take up my offer to meet with you and liaise with my team to find a suitable date. In the meantime, thank you once again for contacting me and raising the concerns of the communities that you represent.—KMS
