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SIR KEIR STARMER has repositioned Labour on the issue of the Kashmiri conflict after meeting with the executive team of Labour Friends of India (LFIN) today.
The move comes after LFIN warned that its relationship with the party was “strained” under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In November the LFIN condemned the Labour 2019 conference for “anti-Indian rhetoric contained in the emergency motion on Kashmir,” which objected to the Narendra Modi government’s unconstitutional removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s status and rights.
Labour delegates passed a motion criticising India’s actions in the conflict.
Months prior in August 2019, Mr Corbyn tweeted that “human rights abuses taking place are unacceptable.”
Mr Starmer, who succeeded Mr Corbyn at the beginning of April, said yesterday: “We must not allow issues of the subcontinent to divide communities here.
“Any constitutional issues in India are a matter for the Indian Parliament, and Kashmir is a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully.”
However his repositioning has already angered many on Labour’s left, unhappy with the direction Mr Starmer is taking the party.
Young Labour member Umaar Kazmi said the move gives Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “the green light to continue his brutal assault and human rights violations against the people of Kashmir.”