The Labour Party has dragged India’s prime minister Narendra Modi into Thursday’s (1) Batley and Spen by-election by issuing a leaflet which says prime minister Boris Johnson has failed to condemn the Indian leader for his policies in Kashmir.
The literature has been widely condemned by many of Labour’s Indian origin MPs, among them Navendu Mishra, who said: “We beat our opponents based on policies, not by dog-whistle racism.”
In a constituency of 80,000, the leaflet appeared to be aimed at attracting some 8,600 Muslim voters, mostly of Pakistani origin. Labour holds the West Yorkshire seat with a slim majority of 3,525 votes.
The leaflet features a photograph of Modi and Johnson shaking hands and includes the warning: “Don’t risk a Tory MP who is not on your side.” It adds: “The risk of voting for anyone but Labour is clear.”
Johnson, who is slammed for not being sufficiently critical of Modi, is described as: “A prime minister who is silent on human rights abuses in Kashmir.” He is also “Accused of white washing Islamophobia”; and voters are reminded he has “compared Muslim women to letterboxes” and said, “Islam is the problem.”
There is a reference to a Sky News report: “Tory Islamophobia inquiry: Anti-Muslim sentiment ‘remains a problem’ with Conservative Party, report finds.”
Although there are 16 candidates standing, the contest is seen as a two-horse race between the Labour candidate, Kim Leadbeater, a personal trainer and campaigner, and Ryan Stephenson, chairman of the West Yorkshire Conservatives and a Leeds city councillor.
Leadbeater, 44, is the sister of Jo Cox, the former Labour MP for Batley. Her killer, Thomas Mair, who held far-right views, is serving a life sentence for her murder on June 16, 2016.
The by-election was triggered when her replacement, Tracey Brabin, stood down after being elected the Labour mayor of West Yorkshire in May.
A complicating factor has been George Galloway’s attempt to peel away some of the Muslim voters by raising the Palestinian issue. The maverick politician, who has stood for numerous parties in recent years, is standing this time for the “Workers Party”. His intervention will not help the Labour cause.
A spokesman for Labour said the party would “always bring communities together” but made it clear the leaflet would not be withdrawn: “This leaflet makes it clear that a vote for anybody other than Kim (Leadbeater) would lead to a Tory MP who would support a Prime Minister who insults Muslim women and calls it a joke, refuses to deal with Islamophobia in his party and fails to speak out on human rights abuses in Kashmir.”
The leaflet reminded those with long memories, among them Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP for Ealing Southall, of the events in Smethwick in the West Midlands in the 1964 general election. Then newly elected Labour prime minister Harold Wilson dismissed the victorious Tory MP, Peter Griffiths, as a “parliamentary leper”, after the latter had endorsed the slogan, “If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour.”
Eastern Eye asked Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s office to defend the leaflet, but received no response.
Sharma, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on India, was more forthcoming. He told Eastern Eye: “This divisive leaflet is cheap divide and rule politics not worthy of the Labour Party. We cannot take the low road here and engage in dog-whistle politics, we have to do much better than this.
“Under Keir and Angela’s (Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader) leadership the party has worked hard to rebuild trust with Indian community. Leaflets such as this will undo all of this good work and engagement and I have asked for it to be withdrawn.
“The Labour Party has always been the party of working people and working communities; divisive messages like this break those communities – they don’t help them. I have always stood on a platform supporting all of my constituents, working for their interests, not just playing politics. The Labour Party will win by bringing people together and uniting the community, to do anything else will divide our community and play into Tory hands.”
He said some in the Labour party took the view that the Indian vote was now more or less lost to the Tories and therefore it should shore up its support among Pakistanis. But Sharma argued this analysis was faulty and pointed out there were plenty of constituencies where Indian voters had remained loyal to the sitting Labour MP.
It is true that many Indians turned away from Labour in 2019 because of then leader Jeremy Corbyn’s perceived pro-Pakistan stance over Kashmir. However, Starmer has angered many of Labour’s traditional Pakistani backers by trying to steer a more neutral line on Kashmir. The party’s bye-election leaflet looks like Labour is alienating Indians once again.
The Indian diaspora is probably 2.5 million in size, compared with one million Pakistanis. In Batley, the ethnic vote could be a significant factor. However, the downside is that the leaflet could inflict long-term damage to Labour’s relations, once very close, with Indian voters.
Conservative Friends of India asked Starmer to clarify his message to Indians: “Dear @Keir_Starmer please can you explain this leaflet and clarify whether a Labour PM/Politician would refuse to have any relationship with the world’s largest democracy?”
Tory Party chairman and MP Amanda Milling said: “This is nasty and divisive politics. Once again Labour are playing politics rather than focusing on the issues that matter as the country recovers from the pandemic.”
The leaflet provoked internal warfare as well.
Mishra, who became the MP for Stockport in 2019, tweeted: “It saddens me to post this, but racism is alive and well within Labour. A hierarchy of racism exists inside the party and some groups are seen as fair game for attacks based on religion/race/heritage.”
Mishra, who resigned from the shadow government in October, said he had faced racism within the party because of his Indian heritage and Hindu faith. “The party needs to do a lot better when it comes to relationships with all communities. With regards to leaflets like this, we don’t expect this from Labour.”
The backlash against the leaflet has gone further.
Darren Jones, member for Bristol North West and chairman of Labour Friends of India, expressed his deep unease: “It is unfortunate that the Labour Party used a picture of the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy and one of the UK’s closest friends, from the G7 in 2019, on its leaflet. We ask the Labour Party to withdraw the leaflet immediately and we will also be writing to the leadership about this.”
Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, said, "I have written to the chair of the party objecting and asking that this leaflet be withdrawn.
"The vicious and divisive attacks on the Labour candidate in Batley and Spen have been a disgrace. That is why it is all the more important that Labour should keep the moral high ground and refuse to engage in sectarian politics that set one community against another and stoke division.
"I have always condemned attempts to import the politics of the sub-continent into our community. I condemn all sectarian divisive politics, whether this is from the Conservatives and their anti-Islamic attacks on Sadiq Khan or whether it is Labour in leaflets like this.
"I believe our politics deserves better and that electors deserve better."
THE London mayor, Sadiq Khan (right), was knighted by King Charles at Buckingham Palace in the capital on Tuesday (10).
Sir Sadiq, who was re-elected for a historic third term in May 2024, went down on one knee during the traditional ceremony, as the King dubbed him with a sword. The mayor was recognised in the monarch’s New Year honours list for his political and public service.
He has become the first person to receive this honour while serving in the role.
Speaking after the ceremony, Sir Sadiq said: “I am immensely proud to receive a knighthood from His Majesty the King.
“Growing up on a council estate in Tooting, I never could have imagined that I would one day receive this great honour while serving as the mayor of London. It is a truly humbling moment for myself and my family, and one that I hope inspires others to believe in the incredible opportunities that our great capital offers. I will forever be honoured to serve the city that I love and will continue to do all I can to build a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone.”
He revealed that he joked with the King about which of them was a bigger workaholic, adding that the monarch “was very chuffed that he managed to personally give me this honour”.
Sir Sadiq described the ceremony as “a great day for the family”, with his mother in attendance and emotional since the honour was announced.
“Obviously, from my background, being the son of immigrants, my parents coming here from Pakistan, it’s a big deal for us,” he said.
Before becoming mayor, Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer and served as Labour MP for Tooting from 2005.
He held various ministerial positions, including minister of state for transport, becoming the first Muslim to attend cabinet.
Dame Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, also received her damehood during the ceremony for political and public service.
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COMMUNITY leaders and MPs have called for a review into what they said were “unduly lenient” sentences given to two teenagers convicted of killing 80-year-old Bhim Kohli.
The attorney-general has been asked to review the sentences handed down to a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl – convicted of the manslaughter of Kohli in Franklin Park last September – given the racially aggravated nature of the crime.
Questions have been raised about how youth sentencing guidelines were applied in practice, despite the guidelines themselves being considered appropriate.
The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody for manslaughter at Leicester crown court last Thursday (5), while the girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order and made subject to a sixmonth curfew.
Mid Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford and Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, have written to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) calling for the sentences to be looked at.
Kohli’s daughter, Susan, criticised the sentence outside the court last week. She said, “The two teenagers made a choice. The boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing.
“I feel angry and disappointed that the sentences they both received do not reflect the severity of the crime they committed. I understand the judge has guidelines, but they have taken a life and as a result, our lives have been changed forever.”
Costa said he was “surprised” the judge “did not apply a statutory uplift for the racially aggravated factors in this case”.
“While it is right that youth sentencing guidelines evolve with our moral and social understanding, the troubling case of Kohli is not necessarily with the guidelines themselves, but with how they have been applied in practice,” he told Eastern Eye.
He said sentencing must serve justice for victims’ families and should offer young offenders a genuine path to rehabilitation, adding that the two were not mutually exclusive.
The court heard Kohli endured seven and-a-half minutes of sustained violence in the park. Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said the boy subjected Kohli to racial abuse before attacking him and striking him across the face with a flip-flop. The female defendant filmed the assault on her mobile phone while laughing and encouraging the violence.
Kohli suffered three broken ribs and multiple other fractures during the attack. However, the prosecution said the cause of death was a spinal cord injury resulting from a fractured spine.
Peter Bedford
Bedford said he will continue to fight for justice for the Kohli family. He added, “Kohli was a well-known and respected man in the local community, and was brutally attacked while walking his dog near his home.
“The announcement of the sentences that have been handed down to the murderers of Kholi is absolutely shocking. They are unduly lenient and I am utterly shocked and appalled by this news.
“The two young people who carried out these attacks will, in a few years, be able to continue with their lives, while the family of Mr Kholi serve a life sentence of pain and grief.”
He pledged to use all available powers to prevent the perpetrators from committing similar crimes.
“I will continue to explore all the options that are available to my office as the local MP, to ensure that these perpetrators who took a life, are never in a position to commit such brutal crimes again.”
Costa warned that if sentences appear lenient, public confidence in the justice system was undermined, which was why transparency in sentencing was crucial.
“To serve as a deterrent, sentences need to be timely, certain, and be perceived as serious by those at risk of offending. Deterrence alone will not reverse the rise of youth violence and antisocial behaviour. The wider system must also respond. For example, filming or encouraging violent acts, which occurred in Kohli’s case, amplify trauma, glorify cruelty, and desensitise those viewing the recording to the violence. Stronger penalties for this behaviour should be considered,” he added.
Justice Mark Turner, who handed down the sentences in a televised hearing from Leicester crown court, described the attack on Kohli as “wicked”.
Alberto Costa
In April, a jury convicted the boy, referred to as D1, for punching and kicking Kohli, and the girl, dubbed D2, for filming and encouraging the attack. The jury heard the boy was the principal offender as his actions resulted in Kohli’s death.
The evidence of the girl’s involvement showed she was part of the attack, in encouraging it and filming it, but there was not enough evidence to show she could have foreseen the terrible outcome of the boy’s violent conduct.
Experts and community leaders said that prevention begins long before sentencing, through support for youth services, early intervention, mentoring, and coordinated work to steer young people away from harm and towards opportunity.
Jaffer Kapasi OBE, community leader and consul general of Uganda, described the attack as shocking to both the victim’s family and society. “The violent attack and murder of an 80-year-old pensioner is shocking not only to the members of his family but also to our society as a whole,” Kapasi told Eastern Eye.
He called for a comprehensive review of the entire process from crime to sentencing, warning that the community living in the surrounding area would remain in a frightened state. Kapasi highlighted the need to examine both reported and unreported antisocial behaviour incidents.
“We certainly need to look at the subject of antisocial behaviour reported and not reported. Many questions and no immediate answer,” he said.
Kapasi argued that the government should intervene with additional focused resources, emphasising that education from a younger age should contribute towards reducing antisocial behaviour.
Dal Babu, former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan police, said, “I was extremely surprised that the horrific death of Kohli was not treated as racially motivated, despite the ‘P word’ being used during the vicious attack. I think the sentence of seven years for the boy and a three-year rehabilitation order for the girl will be challenged.”
It was evidence retrieved from the girl’s phone that showed harrowing footage of the attack on Kohli, which was presented to the jury. The boy admitted to witnesses that he had assaulted the elderly man and also wrote a letter to a social worker, admitting what he had done.
The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] presented CCTV evidence of their actions before and after the attack, including audio of them joking about it to friends.
Barnie Choudhury, Eastern Eye’s editor-at-large, told BBC Radio Five Live last week, “It’s not just the British Asian community, it’s also the white communities in Leicester who are in shock and horror on several fronts following the sentencing.
“First of all, that an 80-year-old pensioner was kicked to death and was attacked brutally, and it was filmed for seven and-a-half minutes while he was being racially abused.”
He added, “The second thing is the comments of the judge that it wasn’t a racially motivated attack. The police ignored comments and complaints and did not investigate fully enough or take seriously enough the antisocial behaviour that was happening in that very park two weeks previously.”
Choudhury said even the victims’ commissioner, Baroness Newlove, said she was concerned by antisocial behaviour.
“Nothing changes because the police have no resources to actually tackle antisocial behaviour through no fault of their own,” he told the programme.
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Muslims pray during Eid al-Adha at an open-air Eidgah in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on June 7, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
RELIGIOUS extremists in Pakistan stopped members of the Ahmadi community from offering Eid prayers in at least seven cities, the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said on Tuesday.
In Punjab, police arrested two Ahmadis and booked three others for trying to perform the ritual animal sacrifice during Eid-ul-Azha. According to JAP, members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) also forced two Ahmadis to renounce their faith.
In recent months, groups led by the TLP have been stopping Ahmadis from offering Friday prayers at their worship places. Ahead of Eid, police summoned several Ahmadis and made them sign written statements agreeing not to offer Eid prayers or perform sacrifices according to their beliefs.
The JAP said Eid prayers were blocked in Khushab, Mirpur Khas, Lodhran, Bhakkar, Rajanpur, Umerkot, Larkana and Karachi. It claimed religious extremists, with support from local administrations, prevented Ahmadis from praying even inside their own worship places.
In Lahore, TLP activists surrounded the community’s oldest worship place in Ghari Shahu on Eid day and demanded police action. The police responded by sealing the site.
In Nazimabad, Karachi, the JAP said that two members, Irfan-ul-Haq and his son, were taken to a police station along with their sacrificial animal by TLP activists. "Fearing for their safety, they recited the Islamic declaration of faith. The TLP activists celebrated by garlanding them and claiming their conversion to Islam," it said.
Punjab police confirmed that two Ahmadis were arrested and three others booked under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for attempting to perform Islamic rituals. They said Ahmadis are not allowed to observe such rituals under the law.
The JAP called this treatment discriminatory, unconstitutional and illegal. "Under Article 20 of Pakistan's Constitution, every citizen is guaranteed freedom of religion. However, Ahmadis are routinely denied this right along with other fundamental rights," it said.
The group said such incidents indicate a wider pattern of discrimination against the Ahmadi community. It added that forced conversions are a serious human rights violation and raise questions about religious freedom in Pakistan.
The JAP said the community remains highly vulnerable to attacks by extremist groups like the TLP, which it claimed operate with impunity.
In early May, a senior Ahmadi doctor was allegedly shot dead in Punjab. On May 15, around 100 graves belonging to Ahmadis were desecrated in the same province.
Though Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s parliament declared them non-Muslims in 1974. A 1984 ordinance later prohibited them from calling themselves Muslims or practising aspects of Islam. This includes building minarets or domes on mosques, or publicly displaying Quranic verses.
However, the Lahore High Court has ruled that places of worship built before the 1984 ordinance are legal and should not be altered or demolished.
(With inputs from agencies)
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'This is a symbol and celebration of rising India,' Modi said of the Chenab Bridge, which connects two mountains. (Photo: X/@narendramodi)
INDIA is committed to efforts to develop Jammu and Kashmir, prime minister Narendra Modi said last Friday (6), accusing Pakistan of seeking to destroy livelihoods there with April's deadly attack on tourists.
He was speaking on his first visit to the Himalayan region since Islamist attackers targeted Hindu tourists in the popular Pahalgam area, killing 26 men, triggering hostilities between the countries that ended in a ceasefire last month.
"The atmosphere of development that emerged in Jammu and Kashmir will not be hindered by the attack ... I will not let development stop here," Modi said in remarks after inaugurating infrastructure projects.
Key among these was a $5-billion rail link between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of India, which has been more than 40 years in the making and features the world's highest railway arch bridge.
Others include highways, city roads and a new medical college.
"Pakistan will never forget... its shameful loss," the prime minister told crowds.
"Friends, today's event is a grand festival of India's unity and firm resolve," Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic.
"This is a symbol and celebration of rising India," he said of the Chenab Bridge, which connects two mountains.
New Delhi calls the Chenab span the "world's highest railway arch bridge", sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river.
While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.
Modi said the railway was "an extraordinary feat of architecture" that "will improve connectivity" by providing the first rail link from the Indian plains up to mountainous Kashmir.
With 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, the new railway runs for 272 km (169 miles) and connects Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla.
It is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, to around three hours.
The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.
Trains run in the Kashmir valley, but the new link is its first to the wider Indian railway network. Apart from boosting the regional economy, it is expected to help revive tourism, which plummeted after the April attack.
Pakistan's foreign ministry, in a statement, said India's "claims of development... ring hollow against the backdrop of an unprecedented military presence, suppression of fundamental freedoms, arbitrary arrests, and a concerted effort to alter the region's demography".
Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
"We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom," said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organised the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s.
"In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India's forced rule."
More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire during last month's conflict.
Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict – mainly in shelling along the heavily militarised de facto border with Pakistan, known as the Line of Control.
"Their troubles are our troubles," Modi said.
Pakistan aimed to disrupt the livelihoods of the poor in Kashmir, who rely heavily on tourism, Modi said, adding that he would face down any obstacle to regional development.
Last month, Islamabad said a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute was essential to ensure lasting peace in the region, known for its snow-topped mountains, scenic lakes, lush meadows, and tulip gardens.
The region drew more than three million visitors last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Chief adviser to the government of Bangladesh Professor Muhammed Yunus speaks during a live interview at Chatham House on June 11, 2025 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
BANGLADESH interim leader Muhammad Yunus said on Wednesday (11) that there was "no way" he wanted to continue in power after elections he has announced for April, the first since a mass uprising overthrew the government.
The South Asian nation of around 180 million people has been in political turmoil since a student-led revolt ousted then prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending her 15-year rule.
Speaking in London, Yunus, asked if he himself was seeking any political post, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said there was "no way", waving his hands in the air for emphasis.
"I think none of our cabinet members would like to do that, not only me", he said.
Yunus was answering questions after speaking at London's foreign policy thinktank Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
He also said he wanted to unveil a "big package" of proposals next month that he dubbed a "July Charter" -- one year on since the students launched the demonstrations that toppled Hasina.
"We want to say goodbye to the old Bangladesh and create a new Bangladesh", Yunus said.
The charter is being drafted by a government "consensus commission", talking to political parties to "find that which are the recommendations they will accept", he added.
Yunus has long said elections will be held before June 2026, but says the more time the interim administration had to enact reforms, the better.
But after political parties jostling for power repeatedly demanded he fix a timetable, he said earlier this month that elections would be held in April 2026.
"Our job is to make sure that the transition is managed well, and that people are happy when we hand over power to the elected government," he said.
"So we want to make sure that the election is right, that is a very critical factor for us. If the election is wrong, this thing will never be solved again".
Yunus is also expected to meet in London with Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is widely seen as likely to sweep the elections.
Rahman, 59, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has lived in London since 2008 after being sentenced in absentia under Hasina -- convictions since quashed.
He is widely expected to return to Dhaka to lead the party in polls.