London, April 26, 2023 (PPI-OT): Member of British Parliament (MP), Debbie Abrahams, has urged her government to link its trade agreements with India to its human rights record. Debbie Abrahams during a debate in the House of Commons, said, “As chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir, I want to talk about the geopolitical significance of Kashmir. I think everybody here accepts that the UK’s security and safety are paramount in trade agreements, but I want to talk about the importance of human rights in those agreements as well.”

She expressed serious concern over the human rights violations perpetrated by Indian troops in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. She said that the UN produced two shocking reports on human rights abuses in Kashmir – the first in 2018 and the second before the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A by India in August 2019. She said these reports include the killings of civilians by off-duty police and army personnel with impunity, and the failure to independently investigate and prosecute widespread reports of sexual violence by Indian forces’ personnel. Debbie Abrahams pointed out that the human rights abuses have not abated in IIOJK. We are in the process of negotiating trade agreements with India. I feel very strongly, as do thousands of people, that we should begin to consider who, what and how we trade with Governments that systematically abuse the citizens, she said. We must commit to making the delivery of human rights explicit in any UK trade deals with India or any other country, she added.

She said, many Members will know that Kashmir is located between Pakistan to the east, India to the south and west, and China to the north. There is a very good reason why Kashmir is known as the longest running dispute in the world. Basically, the British – us – messed it up and that has had a long-running impact, she said. The MP said several UN resolutions on Kashmir exist today, but the most significant is the UN Security Council resolution 47 from 1948, which called for a plebiscite – a referendum – of the Kashmiri people to determine their future.

She said the Line of Control was established between Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, and Indian occupied Kashmir which is very well-guarded by the respective armies. She said there is also a United Nations military observers group permanently based there, such is the seriousness of the border issues between these two nuclear powers – and we must not forget China to the north, so three nuclear powers. When I visited Azad Kashmir in February 2020 – unfortunately, I could not get into India and IIOJK – the officers of that team, who are completely independent and have no axe to grind from any country, convinced me of the fragility and serious threat to global peace of the stalemate over Kashmir, she added.

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