Awami Workers Party calls on Shashi Tharoor to pull out of Bradford Literature Festival

The Awami Workers Party – a left-wing political party in Pakistan – has called for author and politician Shashi Tharoor to put a stop to his appearance on Saturday, which will see him talk about his new book, Why I Am A Hindu.

The group is against Mr Tharoor’s position on Kashmir becoming part of India when they believe it should be allowed to operate independently.

Mohammed Younis, secretary for UK Interfaith and Youth Affairs for the Awami Workers Party, said 90,000 people from Kashmir lived in Bradford and Mr Tharoor’s stance meant he should not be part of the Bradford Literature Festival, which begins today.

Mr Younis said: “A man of the Indian Government should not be invited to a cultural festival.

“Kashmir has been a contested area between India and Pakistan for 70 years and they won’t give the people a vote to determine its future.

“He has advocated his position on Kashmir and I object to that.

MORE TOP STORIES

“We are not in favour of India or Pakistan, we are in favour of Kashmir and that’s our position as a party. If a Pakistani minister came along and advocated the same position, I would do the same thing.”

If the group fails to stop Mr Tharoor appearing, they have vowed to challenge him if he speaks during the festival.

Syima Aslam, director of Bradford Literature Festival, said the organisers had held a number of events on Kashmir since 2014 and the festival prided itself on engaging with diverse and often differing voices and viewpoints on a huge range of at times contentious topics.

“The Kashmiri population of Bradford is a community we are proud to work with, and welcome to the Festival year on year,” she said. “We appreciate that Shashi Tharoor’s views may not be in accord with those of the Awami Workers Party.

“However, his appearance at the Festival is an example of our commitment to free speech and open debate, and not a comment or judgement on the political situation in Kashmir.”