Leicester’s Indian community has reacted with fury against the MP for Leicester East Claudia Webbe following her decision to sign a letter calling for self determination for Kashmir.
Hundreds of Indian-origin people have signed a petition through the campaigning group 38 degrees which calls of the beleaguered MP to withdraw her name from a letter she co signed with former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ms Webbe nearly lost the previously safe Labour seat at the last General Election when the Conservative Candidate Bhupinder Dave slashed the previous majority amassed by former Minister Keith Vaz from 22,428 to just 6,000.
Ms Webbe was imposed by a hard left group on the National Executive Committee in the seat at the last minute. There are nearly 30,000 people of the Hindu faith living in the constituency. She has been severely criticised by local people for still holding on to her position as an Islington Councillor despite being an MP in the Midlands.
The petition states interfering into matters pertaining to Kashmir by any British political party, politicians or even government is not acceptable in the same vein for any overseas bodies to interfere with Northern Ireland or Gibraltar for instance.
The petition included 500 signatures, as we went to press. It said, “We the undersigned, UK population and residents of Leicester East which you represent as MP, hereby write to you to protest in strongest possible terms our displeasure and deep disappointment at the stance that you have taken on the Kashmir issue.
“We unequivocally believe that you have disregarded the facts and the historical dynamics to take a biased anti India stance. We deem there to be political and/or ideological motives that has led to your slur and an outright political misjudgement. This, as well as you presiding as chair over the Labour Party’s motion on Kashmir at its annual conference, has left many of us feeling betrayed and extremely let down by an MP that represents the interests of British Hindus and Indians.
Demanding Claudia’s response to a list of 8 facts (non-exhaustive) they wrote,
- Kashmir has always been an integral part of India even before Pakistan came into being.
- Pakistan sent invading forces to capture Kashmir immediately after the partition in 1947 and occupied substantial parts of the region, which to date are under its occupation.
- The king of Kashmir, Raja Hari Singh, under threat from the invading forces signed a treaty of accession with India merging itself into the Union and thus allowing India to thwart the invading forces.
- Pakistan took up the matter with the United Nations (UN)
The UN Resolution 47 laid out a three step process (source: http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/47):-
I. Pakistan was asked to withdraw all Pakistani nationals and forces that entered Kashmir to put an end to the fighting reverting back to the pre August 1947 position.
II. India was asked to progressively reduce its forces to the minimum level required to sustain law and order.
III. India had been invited to appoint a plebiscite administrator nominated by the UN to conduct a free and impartial plebiscite.- Pakistan has never adhered to its part of the resolution i.e. the first pre-condition set by the UN. It has therefore no right to continually ask for plebiscite.
- Following the 1971 war which led to the formation of Bangladesh, Pakistan signed a bilateral agreement with India under the Simla agreement in which it agreed to resolve all matters through bilateral means (source: https://peacemaker.un.org/indiapakistan-simlaagreement72).
- The imposition of Article 370 was a temporary measure and implemented through an act of Indian Parliament as deemed appropriate – not by any other country or condition. Its removal has also been an act of Indian Parliament, again as deemed appropriate. There is no right to challenge the decision, there are no violations of human rights or the ghastly rumour mongering that has spread, the sole purpose is for unilateral integration.”
To sign the petition see: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/anti-india-anti-hindu-leicester-labour-party-stance-on-kashmir?bucket=&source=whatsapp-share-button&utm_campaign=&utm_source=whatsapp&share=4774ade6-c077-4e3a-8d4e-ba3c140b0ebb
