A LABOUR MP who has campaigned on behalf of the Kashmiri people said today that she had been refused entry into India and was being “treated like a criminal.”

Debbie Abrahams, who chairs the Commons all-party parliamentary group on Kashmir, reported from Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi that she had been denied a visa to enter the country.

In a statement, she said: “An official took my passport and disappeared for about 10 minutes. When he came back, he was very rude and shouted at me to come with him.”

Ms Abrahams was then led by officials to an area reserved for deportees, where she was told that her right to visit India had been revoked.

She said: “I tried to establish why the visa had been revoked and if I could get a ‘visa on arrival’ but no-one seemed to know.

“So now I am just waiting to be deported, unless the Indian government has a change of heart.”

No reason had been given for the decision, she said.

Ms Abrahams, who represents Oldham East & Saddleworth, is a longstanding campaigner for Kashmiri rights.

She rose to national prominence last year when she said that the Hindu-chauvinist Indian government’s decision to revoke the special status and autonomy of Jammu & Kashmir in Indian law was a “betrayal” of the overwhelmingly Muslim people of Kashmir.

As she is on a personal visit to see family and friends, Ms Abrahams added that she is “prepared to let the fact that I’ve been treated like a criminal go” if authorities allow her to continue with her journey.

The British High Commission said that it is in touch with the Indian authorities to find out why the MP was denied entry.