London
Fifty Labour parliamentarians have told new Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, that his recent statement on Indian occupied Kashmir after his meeting with Labour Friends of India is unacceptable, illegal, and historically wrong and he must clarify his position or face open defiance.
This correspondent has learned that Starmer faced huge revolt and threats of open public defiance during a meeting on Thursday over Zoom with his party parliamentarians from across Britain. It’s understood reliably that the Labour leader has agreed to issue a statement to ease outrage within the 1.5 million strong British Kashmiri and Pakistani community.
Most of those Labour MPs who joined the meeting have traditionally spoken in favour of human rights and rights of self-determination of Kashmiri people and against Indian atrocities but several new MPs were part of the meeting. At least three MPs confirmed that the Labour leader was told in no uncertain terms that his statements made in the wake of his meeting with Indian lobby groups were completely unacceptable and historical defiance of Labour position on Kashmir and human rights.
The Labour leader was told during the meeting that his factually wrong comments were seen as insulting and appeasement to Modi-led fascism by thousands of Labour supporters.
Separately, Labour left groups have spoken out to defy the party’s position on the occupied Kashmir conflict as set out by Starmer after he met with the executive team of Labour Friends of India.
The Socialist Campaign Group, made up of MPs on the left of the party, has released a statement expressing “solidarity with the people of Kashmir in their struggle against the world’s largest military occupation” and the group’s “internationalism acknowledges the role of British colonial injustices and the inalienable nature of universal human rights”.
The SCG includes shadow cabinet members Rebecca Long-Bailey, Marsha de Cordova, and Andy McDonald, plus several other frontbenchers, such as shadow ministers Dan Carden and Imran Hussein.
Labour left activists have also voiced opposition to the policy, with new grassroots group Momentum Internationalists organising an open letter signed by hundreds of members that condemns the position expressed by Starmer.
Their statement explicitly said the activists were “disturbed” by the comments that were “in defiance of party policy”. It calls on the new leader to “respect our democracy and conference policy”.
The letter has been signed by hundreds of Labour councillors, trade unionists, officers of local Labour parties, executive members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, and party activists from across the country.
After Starmer’s call with the Labour Friends of India executive last week, he said: “We must not allow issues of the sub-continent to divide communities here. Any constitutional issues in India are a matter for the Indian Parliament, and Kashmir is a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully.”
The Momentum statement added: “We call on Keir Starmer and the party leadership to respect our democracy and conference policy, and to show it is serious about the fight for human rights, including in Kashmir.”
Lord Nazir Ahmed told Geo.tv: “Starmer is wrong to suggest that the Kashmir issue is a constitutional issue and an internal issue for India. He has ignored his party policy, the 1995 and 2019 Labour Party Conference Resolutions, the 1997 Party Manifesto, and numerous commitments by the Late Robin Cook, David Miliband, and Jeremy Corbyn. He has shown lack of judgment and diplomacy by suggesting that he will meet with the Indian High Commissioner and deliberately forgetting Pakistani High Commissioner and his MPs of Kashmiri origins.”
British Muslim Women’s Forum (BMWF) and the Jammu Kashmir Self-determination Movement Women’s Wing also wrote to Keir Starmer expressing “disappointment” over Starmer’s letter to the Hindu Forum Britain. They told Labour leader: “Kashmiri Labour women are proud members of the Labour Party but we will not remain silent on issues of injustices wherever they may occur. —AFP
