The Indian government's decision to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has launched a heated exchange of letters and tweets between the Tories and Labour, especially after a group of mainly British Muslim MPs from the Opposition issued a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, demanding that the UK should 'strongly condemn' the actions of the Indian government.
The Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted saying, “The situation in Kashmir is deeply disturbing. Human rights abuses taking place are unacceptable. The rights of the Kashmiri people must be respected and UN resolutions implemented.”
He was supported by Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi who in a tweet said, “Well said @jeremycorbyn- we cannot remain silent in the face of human rights abuses. We need to stand in solidarity with the #Kashmiri people in their hour of need.”
Corbyn's tweet was heavily criticised by Manoj Ladwa, a London based lawyer and political strategist, Founder and Chief Executive of India Inc. Group, who was Narendra Modi's director of communications during the 2014 Indian election. He said, “I am afraid you are blinded by an ideological perversion which gives fuel to terror, rubbishes international law and denies the rights of women, Dalit, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, LGBTQ minorities in J&K.”
British Muslim MPs from the Labour Party wrote a letter to Boris Johnson demanding that the UK “strongly condemn" the actions of the Indian government and described the decision to revoke Article 370 as an “orchestrated coup" by India. The letter called on the British Prime Minister to consider the wider context of the action led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has been drafted by UK Shadow Minister for Justice Yasmin Qureshi and signed by eight other mostly Pakistani-origin MPs.
Bob Blackman MP, representing a significant proportion of British Asians living in his constituency in response hit back by hand delivering a letter to 10 Downing Street, accusing the Labour Party of breaking from Britain's long-held position that any matter concerning Kashmir is a “strictly bilateral issue".
Supporting Modi, Blackman in his letter wrote that as a democratically elected government, the Indian Prime Minister is “perfectly entitled" to implement his party's election manifesto.
He added, “Constitutional changes are an internal matter for India. There is a widely respected convention that we do not interfere in the domestic affairs of a third country, especially a long-standing friend and ally like India...”
He also made a reference to the Kashmiri Pandits and how they were forced to flee their homeland.
In a statement, Blackman told the Asian Voice, “I strongly support the revocation of Article 370. Jammu and Kashmir has always been an integral part of India and Article 370 has always been anomaly: it has held the area back by starving it of investment, through the prevention of external ownership of land.
“Kashmiri Pandits must be guaranteed right of return after they were the victims of ethnic cleansing and this move should prevent any other minority groups being forced to leave the Kashmir Valley.
“The valley provides excellent opportunities for agricultural and cultural handicraft exports, the development of hydro-electric power and tourism.
“Most important, however, is clearing the area of terrorists – high security is paramount.
“Narendra Modi has again shown proper and strong leadership in honouring the manifesto of the BJP – now is the time to properly integrate Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian constitution.”
The Tory MP has accused the Opposition MPs of making provocative claims against India which he said, “has a long-established tradition of respecting all faiths, unlike other countries”. The letter attracted wide support on social media from many a BJP supporters.
Manoj Ladwa added, “Alongside the (rather effective) political point scoring, Bob Blackman makes very serious points which merit equally serious response from the Labour Party. Surely you can’t allow unrepresentative minority of MPs to hijack the long-standing friendship.”
Labour MP Virendra Sharma told the Asian Voice, "I have seen concern expressed by many at the current political situation in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. All parties should enter into a constructive dialogue and seek to do everything possible to reduce tensions and find a peaceful solution. I am concerned about the situation, not only in India but around the world where recent weeks have seen the continuing detention of nearly one million Uighurs in Xinjiang who need our support and the continuation of demonising attacks on migrants in America along with growing violence by white extremists. The UK has an international responsibility to support communities to come to agreements and peaceful resolutions around the world. It is our duty to ensure that conflicts around the world do not bring division to the UK, that our society is not divided but instead brought together."
The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora, a Kashmiri Pandit civil society movement of selfless volunteers drawn from all major Kashmiri Pandit organisations across the globe, along with several friends from Jammu and Ladakh issued a statement signed by 115 organisations and individuals said, “Global Kashmiri Pandits diaspora (GKPD) unequivocally rejects the petition submitted by 64 citizens (comprising Pandits, Sikhs and Dogras) condemning the abrogation of article 370. GKPD is also outraged at attempts by some sections of the media to project this as the views of all the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Individual opinions of a group of people cannot be considered the voice of the people of the erstwhile state.
“GKPD congratulates Honourable Indian Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for this historic and landmark decision. As major stakeholders in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union territory of Ladakh, we pledge to work alongside Government of India to make the dream of “One Nation - One Constitution” a reality. We will work together with all communities to ensure that the glory of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is restored to how it was before it was ravaged by terrorism.
“Abrogation of article 370 is a tribute to nationalist forces across the country and a step towards further integration of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh with mainstream India.
“We strongly condemn the attempts by sections of media to maliciously highlight the views of a few individuals while ignoring the views of the vast majority of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh who are strongly in favour of the abrogation of Article 370.”
Downing Street has not made any official statement on the issue. But from a telephone conversation between Johnson and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last week, the situation was referred to as “serious".
The Downing Street in a statement said, “The leaders discussed the serious situation in Kashmir and agreed on the importance of maintaining dialogue.”
UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, when asked about the issue during his visit to the US, said, “We've expressed some of our concerns around the situation and called for calm, but also had a clear readout of the situation from the perspective of the Indian government.”
In a previous statement, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesperson had said the UK was following developments closely and supported calls for the situation to remain calm.
Protests across the UK
British Kashmiri groups have staged protests on last Friday in the UK against the Indian government's decision. The “Stop Killing in Kashmir" protest organised by the Tehreek-e-Kashmir pro-independence outfit saw a group of protesters holding anti-India banner, gathered outside the Consulate General of India in Birmingham at a demonstration.
In the meantime, some British Kashmiri and Pakistani groups, condemning Indian government's decision, have planned a protest outside the High Commission of India in London on India's independence day (15 August) in early hours of the day. To counter-protest, the Indian diaspora has also planned to gather outside the embassy, in solidarity with the government's decision. Social media platforms have erupted with several messages, with several funny ones. One message said, “If you hate India so much, you should stop calling your Pakistani restaurants as Indian and call them Pakistani instead.”
On the other hand, film director Shekhar Kapur on twitter criticised BBC World after they called Kashmir as 'India occupied Kashmir.' He said “Each time you call #Kashmir 'Indian Occupied Kashmir', I keep wondering why you refuse to call Northern Ireland 'British Occupied Ireland'?”
NRIs in the UK mirrored this sentiment, with several memes, one of which said, “United Kingdom is made of four countries- England, British occupied Scotland, British occupied Northern Ireland and British occupied Wales. If you didn't know this, no problem, you know it now, educate others! #BBC.”
