Councillors Lloyd-Shogbesan left at the start of this item.

Councillor Altaf Khan, seconded by Councillor Wade, proposed the submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

After debate and on being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Council resolved to adopt the following motion:

This Council supports the calls of the Oxford Kashmiri/Pakistani community to take notice of the humanitarian crisis intensified since 5th August 2019 when the Indian government revoked Article 370 of the Constitution thus abrogating the special status granted to Kashmir.

This Council notes that:

·         eight million people in the valley of Kashmir are completely disconnected from the rest of the world due to curfew imposed by the Indian government;

·         the enforced disappearances of civilians, the state-endorsed sexual violence of women by armed forces and the overall prevalence of human rights violations in the region worsens;

·         the consequences of the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A along with the lockdown is aimed to demolish Kashmiri identity and bring about a demographic change against the wished of the people of Kashmir;

·         thousands of Kashmiris including political leaders, both pro-freedom and mainstream, have been imprisoned without lawful justification;

·         the number of children abducted from their homes is estimated by Indian human rights activists is about 13,000;

·         the ongoing communications black-out is causing disruption for medical agencies and distress for the families.

This Council affirms that:

Jammu and Kashmir is a UN mandated disputed territory and the people of Kashmir must be given the right to self-determination as provided by the UN charter and UN resolutions.

It endorses the UN High Commissioners’ demand to send a fact-finding Mission to Kashmir as demanded in OHCHR reports of June 2018 and July 2019.

This Council resolves:

1)      That the international community including our incoming Government should ask the Government of India to lift all restrictions, ensure restoration of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and allow access to all aid agencies and international observers to obtain an independent estimate of this crisis situation.

2)      The global community through the United Nations should invoke preventative diplomacy to prevent a military conflict between India and Pakistan in the interests of international peace and security and to ensure that the curfew enforced since 5th August should be lifted to guarantee the security and even the lives of the Kashmiri people.

3)      To ask group leaders to write jointly to the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Oxford's incoming MPs and MEPs supporting this motion.

This Council acknowledges the brave and principled work of Oxford’s Kashmiri/Pakistani community and wider diaspora to push for accountability over the many decades of human rights violations and crimes against the Kashmiri people by the Government of India;

and asks the Leader/Chief Executive of the Council to write to the relevant U.K. Government Ministers in the Home and Foreign Offices, and to the city’s incoming MPs, asking:

1)      The UK government to condemn the use of force, rape and other human rights violations of the Kashmiris.

2)      The Home Office to provide sanctuary to Kashmiri people seeking safety from the oppressive regime in Indian Occupied Kashmir.

3)      The city’s MPs to write appropriate letters to the Home Office and Foreign Office representing the demands set out in this motion.