Jim Shannon

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) for bringing this issue to the House. He spoke to me last week, and I am happy to support him. Indeed, I think I have supported him every time he has brought this issue to the House, whether in Westminster Hall or the main Chamber. The ongoing humanitarian and social situation in Kashmir has been sad to see. I support the very clear principle that the people of Kashmir should have the right to determine their future. There is no doubt that the current situation in Kashmir is having a direct impact on that, and more must be done to support Kashmir and its people. I am pleased to see the Minister in his place. He understands these things, and compassion and understanding are his forte. He will do all he can to ensure that his responses give us some reassurance. Repressive policies continue to be carried out in Kashmir, including the use of arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings and other most serious abuses, including sexual abuse. Recently, in 2024 and 2025, there has been a reported rise in militant and counter-insurgency-related violence. This year, a report noted that between August ’24 and July ’25 there were some 53 militant attack-related incidents, in which some 42 civilians and 20 security personnel were killed. Although Christians make up only 1% of the population in Kashmir, last week I took the opportunity to ask the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office about the significant impacts on faith in the region. There have been documented reports of harassment, threats and intimidation. Such incidents occur within a broader environment of religious tension that affects many communities, not only Christians. Will the Minister give us some reassurance that people in religious minorities are being protected? This matters—it matters to you, Sir Roger, it matters to me, and it matters to all of us who hold these obligations—because all communities must feel safe, and self-determination depends on all communities feeling safe and politically represented. There is no point in self-determination if people cannot express their identity, which is at the very core of what the hon. Member for Bradford East referred to. A genuine self-determination process thrives off leadership and free elections, which are the core needed for freedom, whereas Kashmir has witnessed the detention of political leaders, restrictions on civil liberty and interference in elections. Those things are entirely against the process of self-determination. This is where I believe that our Government, and our Minister, can be effective. There is also a role for the United Nations to play—maybe the Minister can give his thoughts on how that could work. The UN should be able to step in and provide leadership to help the process to get to a stage where self-determination can be supported and then put into action in an effective and clear way. Self-determination in Kashmir is not only a principle of international law but a fundamental democratic right—the right of a people to shape their own political, social and cultural future. Until those essential foundations are restored and protected, the claim that Kashmir is experiencing or moving towards genuine self-determination cannot be sustained. For that reason, we must do more to get to the point where we can support the calls of the people of Kashmir for that. I look to the Minister for his commitment to give that support, to ensure that peace, faith and rights are protected in Kashmir.