Srinagar

British Labour lawmaker Debbie Abrahams was denied entry after she had arrived to New Delhi with her aide, Harpreet Upal. She was checking out after landing at Delhi when she was came to know that her visa on arrival stands cancelled, reports appearing in media said.

British Labour lawmaker Debbie Abrahams

Media reports indicate that Debbie’s Kashmir activism led to the action. An MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, Abrahams chairs a parliamentary group focused on Kashmir. She has been an outspoken critic of India’s Kashmir interventions in August.

Reports said that Debbie was travelling from Dubai to Delhi via an Emirates flight and had arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 9 am.

“I tried to establish why the visa had been revoked and I could get a ‘Visa on arrival’ but no one seemed to know,” Debbie Abrahams was quoted by the AP saying. “Even the person who seemed to be in charge said that he didn’t know and was really sorry about what has happened.”

In a tweet, Abrahams has clarified that she has Indian relatives who she was meant to be visiting in her two-day tri and that she has Indian members of staff accompanying her. She has been a member of the House of Commons since 2011.

“Shortly after the changes to Kashmir’s status were passed by India’s Parliament, Abrahams wrote a letter to India’s High Commissioner to the UK, saying the action “betrays the trust of the people” of Kashmir,” The Hindu reported. “On Ms. Abrahams’ visit, a government official told The Hindu she was informed that her electronic visa-on-arrival had been cancelled. The official said Ms. Abrahams was informed about the cancelled visa before she flew to India.”

She wrote on Twitter: “…So now I am just waiting to be deported…unless the Indian Government has a change of heart. I’m prepared to let the fact that I’ve been treated like a criminal go, and I hope they will let me visit my family and friends.”

Labour has been facing a lot of heat from Delhi after its Kashmir activism. It created a situation that the Indian diaspora in the UK got actively involved against the party. It eventually lost the election that Boris Jhonson won. Now the Labours are facing a response to what they did last summer on the diplomatic front.

UK’s Kashmir Election!

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