The British new foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, told the House of Commons that the human rights situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir following the lockdown of the region by the Narendra Modi government for over four weeks is "an international issue". This reflects a failure of Indian foreign relations. Britain is a permanent member of the powerful United Nations Security Council, enjoying veto powers in it. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Raab on the phone last month. But it would appear both he and diplomats at the Indian high commission in London have been ineffective in convincing the United Kingdom to India's point of view.

As soon as the United Kingdom parliament commenced proceedings on Tuesday after a long summer recess, a barrage of aggressive questions from around 15 MPs greeted Raab from all sections of the house on the Modi administration's treatment of people in Kashmir following abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, the severing of Ladakh from it and the downgrading of both from full statehood to union territory status. The questioners included Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, who raised the matter of unlawful "detentions" by Indian authorities.