Keir Starmer shifts Labour party policy on Kashmir in bid to woo Indian voters
The new leader of the UK's Labour Party has shifted its stance on the Kashmir dispute, insisting it's a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan after meeting with an Indian lobby group.
"We must not allow issues of the sub-continent to divide communities here," Keir Starmer said on Thursday after a meeting with the executive team of the Labour Friends of India (LFIN).
"Any constitutional issues in India are a matter for the Indian Parliament, and Kashmir is a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully," he added.
Starmer, newly elected to the leadership position, intends to distance himself from his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, who was criticised by sections of the UK's Indian community, a population of about 1.5 million, for putting forward an emergency motion saying there was a "major humanitarian crisis taking place in Kashmir".
Corbyn's stance on Kashmir was clear in his August 2019 tweet: "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."
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That motion passed in September 2019 following New Delhi's move to revoke Article 370 in Kashmir, wiping away the region's status as a semi-autonomous state.
The Labour Party under Corbyn also called for an international team of observers to enter the region, noting the "enforced disappearance of civilians", and "the overall prevalence of human rights violations".
The motion added that "the people of Kashmir should be given the right of self-determination".
Trigger unrest among party members
Divided between Pakistan and India, Indian-held Kashmir is considered to be the most militarised region in the world, with New Delhi having deployed more than 500,000 troops and paramilitaries.
A further 100,000 Indian police and about 30,000 special police officers were added in August 2019 to the military muscle of India in a region where more than 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
Pro-freedom groups and rights activists say the ruling Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to institute a "demographic change" by settling army officers, bureaucrats, migrant labourers and even nomadic slum dwellers in the Muslim-majority region.
Starmer's comments are expected to cause discord among party members and spark controversy among the party's left.
London's vice-chair of the Labour Party, Seema Chandwani, said that Starmer "cannot meet with an unaffiliated unaccountable group of people and change the conference position on Kashmir unilaterally".
Guardian columnist Owen Jones said he would have preferred to see Starmer adopt a stronger position on the conflict and support Kashmiris' desire for self-determination.
"Kashmir is a matter for the Kashmiri people, not the Indian Parliament. Labour should support national self-determination and human rights unequivocally."
During his maiden speech at the Commons, newly elected Labour MP Tahir Ali demanded an end to "atrocities" in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
"This is not, in my view, a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan - the international community needs to take responsibility," he said.
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