Jeremy Corbyn
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Human Rights in Kashmir
Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Your Party)
Thank you for calling me in this debate, Mrs Harris. I will be very brief because others wish to speak.
I put on record my thanks to the hon. Members for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) and for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) for the huge work they have consistently done on the issue of Kashmir. The hon. Member for Bradford East chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Kashmir, which has made a huge difference and meant that the issue has been properly debated in Parliament.
The contribution of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) brought together the whole issue, which is fundamentally that the way Kashmir was treated at the time of Indian independence is an overhanging colonial responsibility for Britain that has never been resolved. The matter was referred to the United Nations in 1948 and that is where it still is. At some point, it will have to be returned to, and there will have to be a recognition that this is an international issue that requires an international solution.
The immediate crisis is, in a sense, symptomatic of the partition of Kashmir, with the line of control between Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. The situation in Azad Kashmir at the moment is frankly terrible. I have constituents who have family there or who are there at the moment. The information getting back to us is that there are shortages of just about everything. There is an inability to move about and there are very high prices for food. There are also irrational detentions of people for taking part in protests and the general suppression of any civil and political activity.
That is what happens when the economy spirals out of control and people cannot eat or feed their children properly. Something has to be done. At the very least, one would hope that the British Government—I look forward to the Minister’s response—will put whatever pressure it can on the administration in Azad Kashmir and be firmly in touch with the Pakistani Government through the high commission here to ensure that there is a lifting of the sanctions, a return of universal access to the internet, free movement around Azad Kashmir and a preparedness to engage to bring about long-term peace and stability within the region.
Too many people are suffering, there is too much tension, and too much abuse of power is taking place at this very moment.