Parliament’s contrary responses to Kashmir attacks spur debate

In February 2019, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Indian security personnel in Pulwama in India-administered Kashmir, killing 40.

At the time, Foreign Minister Winston Peters introduced a motion in Parliament condemning the attack.

"That this House condemn the 14 February act of terrorism against Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the Pulwama district, leading to a very large loss of life; offer its condolences to the people and Government of India; and express its support and solidarity for the Government of India at this difficult time, as well as offer our deep sympathy for all those who are grievously affected," Peters said.

The motion was agreed to and passed.

In the wake of another attack in India-administered Kashmir more than six years later, New Zealand's response appears to be starkly different.

In April, at least two dozen people died after gunmen opened fire on tourists near the picturesque town of Pahalgam in the Himalayas.

In May, Indian-origin ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar introduced a motion in Parliament that condemned the attack.

"My motion was: I move that the House condemns the terrorist attack that occurred in the town of Pahalgam, Kashmir, on 22 April 2025," Parmar told attendees at a community event on Saturday organised by Kiwi Indian Global Connect.

"We express our deepest condolences to those who lost friends and family in this tragic event, and we stand in solidarity with the people of Kashmir during this difficult time.

"We also acknowledge the impact on the Indian diaspora and communities in New Zealand and India, extending our heartfelt sympathies to those affected. We recognise the shared grief and commit to supporting those impacted."

Parmar told the meeting the Green Party had blocked the motion.

"The Green Party said they would not support the use of [the phrase] 'terrorist attack' in my motion. And I decided not to take it out," Parmar said.

"I felt removing these words would mean minimising the evil motivations behind the action."

Failing to get consensus, Parmar's motion failed to pass.

"My question is, 'What changed this time as our Parliament failed to condemn the 22 April terrorist attack in India which took 26 innocent lives?'," said former New Zealand First MP Mahesh Bindra, referring to the 2019 motion.

"That's my main problem with it," said Veer Khar, president of New Zealand Indian Central Association, who also addressed the gathering of about 100 people at Bruce Pullman Park in the Auckland suburb of Takanini.

"Because of what happened [between ACT and the Greens], the message has gone - New Zealand Parliament failed to condemn the killings of civilians in Kashmir," Khar said.

"I would have agreed to the wording as proposed by the Greens and ensured the motion is passed.

"Moving forward, the Indian community would try engaging with the Green Party and exchange each other's perspectives on issues."

Responding to the allegations, Green Party MP Ricardo Menéndez March said the Greens wanted to put forward a motion that centred on victims, remained consistent with standing orders and avoided enflaming tensions surrounding the conflict.

"We proposed alternative wording, as we understood [that] what the ACT Party had proposed was not consistent with standing orders - in particular SO 102(1), quote '… include only such material as may be necessary to identify the facts or matter to which the motion relates'," Menéndez March said.

"The effect of SO 102 is that motions without notice of this kind are succinct statements of the House's recognition of tragedies and significant events," he said.

"We would have been entirely supportive of a statement of that kind on the tragic Kashmir attack, consistent with the types of motions without notice that are regularly used in the House," he said.

"We proposed an alternative that acknowledged the tragedy in Kashmir but fit within the standing orders.

"We would have been open to negotiating this further with Parmjeet, however, we only heard back from them 20 minutes before Question Time."

Prithi Pal Singh Basra, chairperson of the New Zealand Central Sikh Association, said the issue was important to the Indian community.

"My family has been in New Zealand for over 100 years," Basra said. "Still, we are culturally and socially linked to India. All of us have strong family ties even now. What happens there affects us here."

Former National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi called on Indian New Zealanders to be ambassadors for their homeland.

"Talk to as many as locals as possible and explain what is happening in India [in terms of terrorism]," he said.

Siva Kilari, a former National Party candidate for Manurewa, called on mainstream media to reach out to members of the Indian community when reporting on South Asia issues.

"I urge the New Zealand media to make use of the almost 300,000 [people of Indian origin] we have here to understand a complicated place like the Indian subcontinent," Kilari said.

Sunny Kaushal, chair of the ministerial advisory group on retail crime, termed terrorism a global issue.

"Terrorism has no religion, no race, no nationality and no place in the world," he said. "New Zealand should always send a united message against any act of terrorism in the world."

Dinesh Pahuja, a spokesperson for the event, acknowledged the condemnation of the April terrorist attack by the government.

Both Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have repeatedly issued statements condemning the attack.

"On 22 April, India suffered a devastating terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir," Luxon said early May at a business event welcoming Pabritra Margherita, India's minister of state for external affairs, to New Zealand.

"New Zealand condemns terrorism, and we sent our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the attack."

"[But] the government is not the voice of the nation, Parliament is," Pahuja said.

"It was our expectation all lawmakers condemned the act of terrorism in Kashmir in one united voice, which unfortunately didn't happen."