The Indian High Commission in London has cancelled its dinner reception at the British Labour party annual conference in the wake of party passing a unanimous resolution on Kashmir calling upon the Indian government to immediately stop human rights violations in the occupied valley.
The party resolution, unanimously passed at the annual conference in Brighton, accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory and said the people of Kashmir should be given the right to self-determination in accordance with the UN resolutions. The motion was proposed by Uzma Rasool from the London Leyton Constituency, seconded by Cllr Neghat Khan and was supported by Naz Shah MP and Kaneez Akhtar from Keighley Yorkshire. All four women of Kashmiri origin represent the Jammu and Kashmir people in the party.
The resolution urged the party to stand with the Kashmiri people fighting against occupation which irritated the Indian government and lead to the Indian mission in UK calling off the dinner. The participants of the conference also urged party leader Jeremy Corbyn to attend UNHRC session to demand restoration of basic human rights including the freedom of speech and communication, lifting of curfews, and allowing humanitarian aid organisation and international observers to enter the occupied region.
The principled stand taken by the Labour party in highlighting the enforced disappearance of civilians, the state-endorsed sexual violence by Indian armed forces and the overall prevalence of human rights violations in the region was appreciated by the Kashmiris across UK. However, the motion did not go well with the UK-based Indians as Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) UK President Kuldeep Singh threatened that the entire Indian diaspora in the country will not support the Labour party in next general election because of the motion. While addressing the conference, Labour MP for Bradford West Naz Shah said in the last 70 years, the Indian government has completely denied UN Resolutions on Kashmir and demands for right to self-determination have been sidelined. Presenting a grave picture of overall situation in Kashmir, she claimed that tens of thousands of people have been murdered, political activists tortured and women raped in the valley. She lamented that two months have passed since lockdown of the region and there is no communication with the outside world. “Some 700 thousand Indian military personal are on the guard in the most militarised region of the world, political leaders are under house arrest and there are some reports of horrific human rights violations including midnight rapes,” she concluded.