British MP Debbie Abrahams, who’s been a long critic of the Indian government on the revocation of Article 370, was refused entry at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and deported to Dubai. Abrahams, who also chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir in the UK, said that she was treated like a criminal at the Delhi airport even though she had an e-visa to enter India.
She said the immigration officials at the Delhi airport had confiscated her passport and behaved rudely before deporting her to Dubai.
Abrahams, who was elected to the British parliament from Oldham East and Saddleworth, said that she was visiting India to meet her relatives with her parliamentary aide Harpreet Uppal when the immigration officials stopped her entry. She was told that her visa had been rejected.
“I was getting a little bit scared. I didn’t know where he was taking me, what was going to happen. So I said ‘no I want to know what’s happening’. Then he shouted at me ‘follow me’ and I said ‘don’t speak to me like that’,” Abraham was quoted by London’s Daily Mirror. She added, “An official took my passport and disappeared for about 10 minutes. When he came back, he was very rude and shouted at me to come with him.”
“After lots of different immigration officials came to me, I tried to establish why the visa had been revoked and if I could get a ‘visa on arrival’ but no-one seemed to know,” BBC News quoted her as saying.
A statement by her read, “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.”
She later tweeted maintaining her resolve to fight against human rights violations. Her tweet read, “Just to be clear, I have Indian relatives who I was meant to be visiting with & have Indian members of staff accompanying me. The reason I got into politics is advance social justice & human rights FOR ALL. I will continue to challenge my own Government & others on these issues.”
Just to be clear, I have Indian relatives who I was meant to be visiting with & have Indian members of staff accompanying me. The reason I got into politics is advance social justice & human rights FOR ALL. I will continue to challenge my own Government & others on these issues.
— Debbie Abrahams (@Debbie_abrahams) February 17, 2020
Abrahams, who criticised the Indian government’s move to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, had written to the British Foreign Secretary last year saying that the parliamentary group chaired by her was ‘gravely concerned’ about the decision to strip the Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. She had said that the abrogation of Article 370 amounted to the betrayal of the ‘trust of the people’ living in the valley.
