On Saturday 6th February, Conservative MP for Harrow East paid his homage to an Indian diplomat reportedly killed in Birmingham by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a secessionist organisation banned in India.
Bob Blackman tweeted, “Today we remember the murder of the young #Indian diplomat #RavindraHareshwarMhatre who was kidnapped on 3rd February 1984 in Birmingham by #JKLF. They demanded a ransom of £1 million & he was then murdered on 6th February 1984. #RIP #OmShantiOm”.
Posted in India’s consulate in Birmingham, 48-year-old Mhatre was kidnapped by elements owing allegiance to a Kashmir-based militant group on February 3 and body was found in nearby Leicestershire two days later. Three people were convicted and jailed in Britain. Later documents released by the UK’s national archives reportedly disclosed that the West Midlands police had provided locations of the three suspects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but officials in Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) stonewalled UK efforts to apprehend them.
