London: The UK authorities reaffirmed its long-standing coverage on Kashmir as a difficulty for India and Pakistan to resolve based mostly on the needs of Kashmiris throughout a Westminster Hall debate within the Houses of Parliament this week. Hamish Falconer, minister within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), offered the official stance in the course of the debate entitled Kashmir: Self-determination’ secured by backbench Labour MP of Pakistani heritage Imran Hussain.
The MP for Bradford East, a constituency with a major British Pakistani voters, requested the minister to handle a key query on whether or not Kashmir is a bilateral or a global concern.
I reaffirm the UK authorities’s long-standing place on Kashmir, which is that it’s for India and Pakistan to discover a lasting decision to the state of affairs, considering the needs of the Kashmiri individuals,” mentioned Falconer.
That precept is central to our method, and it displays our perception in diplomacy and our respect for human rights,” he mentioned.
The minister, in control of the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan within the FCDO, took be aware that Wednesday’s backbench debate marked the fourth UK parliamentary intervention on Kashmir this 12 months.
As the entire House is aware of, Kashmir is without doubt one of the most delicate and enduring challenges in South Asia. It is a flashpoint between two nuclear-armed states and a spot the place historical past, identification and geopolitics collide.
The dispute has endured for almost eight a long time, and it defines the safety panorama of South Asia. As we have now seen this 12 months, the stakes are extremely excessive, and miscalculation or escalation may have penalties far past South Asia. That is why Britain, whereas sustaining a impartial stance, urges dialogue and respect for human rights,” he mentioned.
Labour MP Barry Gardiner highlighted the cross-border terrorism within the area and that many of the terrorist camps” are based mostly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Therefore, one of many issues that his authorities may do is press the Government of Pakistan to shut these terrorist camps. We know the place they’re: the South Asia Terrorism Portal data 42 recognized terrorist coaching camps situated in Pakistan, and 21 situated in (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan,” mentioned the MP for Brent West in London.
Falconer responded by noting that it’s clearly a blight on South Asia that so many nations within the area imagine their neighbours are internet hosting terrorists who threaten them.
The UK seeks to assist on this concern. It is significant, and it has clearly been a reason behind the newest breakdown in relations,” he said.
Former prime minister Jeremy Corbyn was among the many Labour MPs demanding United Nations (UN) intervention on the difficulty of Kashmiri self-determination in the course of the debate.
There is powerful disagreement between India and Pakistan about whether or not this concern ought to return to the United Nations… at completely different occasions India and Pakistan have respectively thought UN involvement was useful or not useful, the minister responded, reiterating the British authorities’s name for an India-Pakistan bilateral dialogue.
