India Cancels British MP Debbie Abrahams’ Visa Citing “Anti-national” Reasons

New Delhi, February 19, 2020:

The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been vehemently condemned after India denied British Parliamentarian and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Kashmir, Debbie Abrahams’ entry into occupied Kashmir.

Debbie alleged that the Indian authorities treated her with hostility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. In her official statement, Debbie said after she presented her documents, an official looked at the screen and shook his head. Afterwards, the official left his desk for ten minutes and when he returned, he behaved in a “rude and aggressive” manner.

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Later, the authorities later responded saying that her visa, valid for October 2020, had been rejected. Abrahams said she tried to ask the reason for her visa’s rejection and if she could get a visa on arrival’ but no one answered her.

Debbie said that she had written to the Indian envoy in the United Kingdom expressing concern over the Article 370 move. She had termed India’s decision to strip Kashmir off its special status as a “betrayal of the trust of the people”.

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Meanwhile, the government said that Debbie’s visa was cancelled on grounds on anti-India activities. ‘No entry’ for Debbie in India is one step is a rare development wherein a leader, an elected lawmaker of a partner country, was restricted.

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