The United Kingdom's Opposition Labour Party on Wednesday drew flak from prominent Indians in the UK for passing an emergency motion calling for international intervention in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian diaspora representatives described it as "ill-conceived" and "misinformed", given the British government's official stand of Kashmir being a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
Responding to the comments, India said that it will not communicate with the Labour Party to explain the Kashmir situation. “There is no question of engaging with the Labour Party or its representatives on this issue,” said Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
The party's resolution attracted criticism from Indian diaspora representatives, who warned that it would alienate the party's support among the Indian-origin electorate.
"The Labour Party has historically enjoyed good relations with India and its diaspora community in the UK. However, under Jeremy Corbyn this relationship has become fractured due to what can only be described as now an institutional bias against India and Indians," said Manoj Ladwa, the CEO of UK-based media house India Inc and former Chair of Labour's Indian Community Engagement Forum.
"This resolution on Kashmir is ill-conceived, misinformed, and will only further alienate the vast majority of Indians from Labour," he said.
The resolution was tabled at Labour's annual party conference in Brighton and called for intervention by leader Jeremy Corbyn to ensure someone from the party is present at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to speak on the issue.
It also called for Corbyn to meet the high commissioners of both India and Pakistan to ensure there is "mediation" and restoration of peace and normality to prevent a potential nuclear conflict.
In an apparent reference to the revocation of Article 370, the motion condemned the house arrest and imprisonment of mainstream Kashmiri politicians and activists and restrictions on journalistic freedom, claiming that the ongoing communications blackout continues to cause disruption for families.
India has consistently maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one and no third party has any role in it.
