The Labour MP, Debbie Abrahams – who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir was told to leave from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport.

India’s High Commission in London has clarified that Ms Abrahams did not have a visa to visit India and her refusal was nothing to do with her work on the APPG. A Foreign Office minister raised the case formally with India’s High Commissioner regarding the incident. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are in contact with the Indian authorities, and Lord Ahmad has spoken with the Indian High Commissioner to understand why Deborah Abrahams MP was denied entry to India.

“We provided consular assistance to her whilst she was in New Delhi Airport.”

Though the Labour MP – who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir and has been critical of India – played a victim card saying she was being “deported”. Debbie Abrahams said she “felt like a criminal” after she was put in a “deportee cell” and “physically marched” onto a return flight when authorities said she did not have a valid visa. As usual, the MP tried the theatrics of connecting the visa part with her so-called Kashmir connection and said she “wouldn’t be surprised” if the decision was to do with her involvement with the APPG.

It must be noted that last year, Ms Abrahams said a legal change by the Indian government “betrays the trust of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”. She wrote to India’s High Commissioner to the UK last August: “The unilateral decision made by the Government of India to remove Article 370 betrays the trust of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, dating back to the accession in 1947.”

Later, Ms Abrahams was put on a flight to return to Dubai where she would then catch her connecting flight to Pakistan.

Vishwesh Negi, Minister in charge of Press and Political Affairs at India’s High Commission in London, denied the refusal was to do with Ms Abrahams’ work on Kashmir. He said: “She’s claiming she had a visa, we are saying she didn’t have a visa. So it’s her version against our version.”

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