An open letter to Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer

• WHILE as you know we, your constituents, may not agree on a number of political issues, we had imagined that you would live up to your public record as a lawyer supporting human rights.

After years of conflict with India, recent events in Kashmir after prime minister Narendra Modi suspended Kashmir’s autonomy last summer, imposed a lockdown on contact with the outside world, and sent in the military, have been a horrendous violation of human rights.

This is a matter of international law as is the respect of a people’s right to self-determination. To argue, as you have done, that the Kashmiri conflict is a bilateral matter for India and Pakistan to resolve is a gross and wilful decision to ignore international law on both these counts.

It also contradicts what you yourself noted in your statement that “Labour is an internationalist party and stands for the defence of human rights everywhere.”

The Labour Party’s current policy on Kashmir acknowledges that Kashmir should be seen as a disputed territory and that the people of Kashmir should be given the right of self-determination. This was passed at the last Labour Party conference.

Surely, any change in this policy cannot be the decision of the party leader alone but must have the support of the party at conference.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s appalling record of violation of Muslims’ human rights is well known and has been called out by many Indian Hindus.

We stand by the internationalist principles of the Labour Party and do not want the newly elected leader of our party to betray these in the name of electoral interest.

This is not a matter of being anti-Indian but of upholding the principles that we all, including you, publicly support.

We therefore call on you to publicly condemn the Indian government’s violation of Muslims’ human rights in Kashmir and to respect the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.

This is the very least your party members should expect from a respected international human rights lawyer and leader of the Labour Party.

CONSTITUENTS OF HOLBORN & ST PANCRAS:
HELENA AKSENTIJEVIC, RUTH APPLETON, REBEKAH BALL, HEATHER BOWER, JIMENA CASTRO, ANGELA COBBINAH, MARK DENNISON, UNA DOYLE, HARRIET EVANS, ANDREW FEINSTEIN, JULIAN HOUGH, LAUREN HOUGH, RIVA JOFFE, STEPHAN KAPOS, RICHARD KUPER, LINDA LEFEVRE, MARIE LYNAM, SUSANNA MITCHELL, LUCY MOY-THOMAS, GARETH MURPHY, DIANE PEARSON, SIMON PEARSON, LUKE PEARSON, JOANNE O’BRIEN, PAUL O’BRIEN, TOM REED, SHEZAN RENNY, PAUL RENNY, PETER ROBBINS, ANNA ROSE, LINDA SAYLE, AMANDA SEBESTYEN, TOM SELWYN, FELICITY TAYLOR, NICK WEAVER, PETER WICKENDEN, ZULMA WICKENDEN