British parliamentarian Debbie Abrahams on Wednesday expressed the hope that India would follow Pakistan’s “openness” on Kashmir.
The British lawmaker was addressing a joint press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad.
Debbie Abrahams arrived in Islamabad earlier Wednesday, two after she was deported by India fearing her outspoken support for locked down people of Occupied Kashmir.
The Indian government accused the British lawmaker of anti-India activities and revoked her e-business visa. Instead of apologizing, the Indian officials insisted that sanctioning, revocation or rejection of a visa or any electronic travel authorisation was the sovereign right of a country.
When Ms Abrahams landed at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday, she was asked to go back.
In the joint press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted the plight of Kashmiris. “Nearly 200 days have been passed and there is no sign of a let-up in the Indian lockdown of millions of Kashmiris,” he added.
He said that the visiting parliamentarian has come from the UK to see the ground reality on both sides of Kashmir, adding that New Delhi denied her entry. Qureshi said that she could go anywhere in Azad Kashmir.
He said it would have been better if she had witnessed situation on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) before sending a report back to her parliament.
On her deportation from India, Debbie Abraham said “We wanted to speak with the people of Jammu and Kashmir but unfortunately that could not happen.”
The British parliamentarian said that people of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir have been facing a difficult time, adding that India did not allow them to visit the troubled region. She said that the purpose of the visit was to see for herself the ground reality as she and her colleagues were concerned about the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
She said “We appreciate Pakistan’s positive gesture,” and expressed the hope that India too would cooperate like Pakistan.
She said that the head of the United Nations Human Rights would visit Pakistan soon.