Jammu
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.”
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, we will continue to work hard to reaffirm our commitment to stand up for the rights of the Kashmiri people in the most constructive and effective manner.”
Starmer said he was determined not to let the issue of Kashmir “divide our communities or our party”.—KMS
