Srinagar
Chairman Labour Friends of Kashmir Andrew Gwynne MP has told new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer that nearly one million strong British Kashmiri community is anguished after controversial comments made by the Labour leader on the issue of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).
In a letter to leader of the opposition in the British parliament, the Chairman Labour Friends of Kashmir has made references to Labour Friends of India where Sir Starmer said that Kashmir is solely a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan.
Andrew Gwynne MP reminded the Labour leader that Kashmir dispute is the subject of over a dozen outstanding United Nation Security Council (UNSC) resolutions which grant Kashmiris the right to self-determination through “a free and impartial plebiscite”.
He said in the letter: “It is a matter of international law, of which the United Kingdom has a specific interest at seeing the matter properly resolved within the terms of the UNSC resolutions (both as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and as the former colonial power which left the status of Kashmir ambiguous upon the granting of independence to India and Pakistan). “There are also some very serious reports of human rights abuses, many of which have been documented by respected international human rights organisations. The Labour Party should always stand up for human right at home and across the globe, and sadly, your letter has been interpreted by some in the Kashmiri community as condoning and legitimising these human rights abuses in Kashmir – which I know is categorically not the case, but this is how it is sadly being seen within the diaspora community here in Britain.”
Andrew Gwynne MP drew attention of the Labour leader towards a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on June 14, 2018 which noted, “There remains an urgent need to address past and ongoing human rights violations and to deliver justice for all people in Kashmir who have been suffering from seven decades of conflict. Any resolution to the political situation in Kashmir should entail a commitment to ending the cycles of violence and accountability for past and current human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties and redress for victims”; Human Rights Watch World Report 2019 which noted that “the government led by BJP harassed and prosecuted activists, lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists for criticising authorities.—KMS
