LONDON: UK’s Labour party has rejected a motion about alleged “violence and rights abuses” in Kashmir at its annual conference in Liverpool.
The motion was put forward by a party unit, the Birmingham Hodge Hill constituency labour party (CLP), for debate at the conference. Around 38% of Hodge Hill’s population is of Pakistani-origin. The motion was supported by Stoke-on-Trent Central CLP.
“Conference notes all UN resolutions in relation to this disputed territory and urges a future Labour government to continue the recognition of UN resolutions in relation to the rights of the Kashmiri people,” the motion said.
Only 12 motions made it through the priorities ballot on Sunday to get debated. The Kashmir motion garnered 1,480 CLP votes and no affiliate votes and, so, did not get debated. This was far less than the 12 motions that did make the cut such as “Technology and AI in the workplace” which got 1.2m affiliate votes and 3,830 CLP votes.
The Kashmir motion further said: “In government, Labour will work internationally to find a lasting settlement and bring an end to this conflict, this will only be achieved by bringing India and Pakistan together, working with the people of Kashmir….We will never shy away from our responsibility to speak out against human rights abuses and attacks on democracy, no matter where they occur.”
In September 2019, a controversial Kashmir motion — under Jeremy Corbyn as leader — was adopted at the Labour conference. That had caused the Indian high commission to cancel its annual reception with Labour and boycott the conference for the next few years. However, high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami attended this year’s Labour meet.
Neeraj Patil, founder of the forum Hindus for Labour, said: “The fact the Kashmir motion did not go through proves the Labour party is not anti-Indian. The problem with the 2019 motion was it offended India and took the side of Pakistan. We want India and Pakistan to resolve their own issues and if they want the UK to be involved, a Labour government will.”
The report of the National Policy Forum, which feeds into the Labour manifesto, states: “In Kashmir, Labour supports and recognises UN resolutions on the rights of the Kashmiri people but maintains that a lasting settlement to end this conflict can only be achieved by India and Pakistan working together with the people of Kashmir. Labour will call for thorough and transparent investigations of allegations of human rights violations.”