Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of reports of human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.

I recognise there are human rights issues in both India Administered Kashmir and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. We raise issues, where we have them, directly with the governments of India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan are important friends of the UK, and we have strong and deep bilateral relationships with both. It is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political resolution on Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people.