London, Jun 2: The UK is with India in its efforts to combat terrorism, Indo-Pacific Minister Catherine West told the all-party delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad at a meeting at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in London on Monday.
The delegation highlighted India’s resolve against terrorism, which it stressed must be eradicated in the interests of all humanity. Catherine West reiterated the UK’s condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attacks in April and hailed India’s contributions to stability in the Indo-Pacific.
“The delegation reiterated India’s resolve to combat terrorism on its own. They also emphasised that terror remains a threat to all nations, and therefore the world needs to eradicate this scourge in the interests of all humanity,” the High Commission of India said in a social media statement following the meeting.
“The minister reiterated the UKs condemnation of terror attacks in India, the priority it attaches to the India relationship in global strategic and economic terms, in contributing to stability in the Indo-Pacific and to global economic growth. She said that the UK is with India in its efforts; as a nation that has suffered from terror attacks itself, the UK believes that those who commit acts of terror must be brought to justice. All countries must work towards this end,” the statement added.
The closed-door meeting followed the group’s in-depth dialogues with representatives from some of the leading UK-based think tanks at India House in London.
Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami opened the proceedings by laying out the context of the delegation’s visit in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attacks and Operation Sindoor against Pakistan-backed terror camps. The meeting brought together leading strategic experts from International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Chatham House, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Wilton Park, among others.
“We had a very wonderful dialogue with leading think tanks across England,” Prasad told PTI following the discussions.
“We conveyed our own concern as to why we are here. We also said we are capable of handling Pakistan, which we have handled. We believe in peace and amity, but we also have to take action to save the livelihood of our people against terror. But the world has to understand this cancer of terrorism,” he said.
Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, IISS Senior Fellow and Head of the South and Central Asian Programme, described it as a “fascinating exchange” with a delegation that represents the “voice of India”.
“It represents the government of India, represents multiple parties, members in Parliament, and it represents the people of India, and we’ve been really hearing about a unified voice against Pakistan-based terrorism,” said Roy-Chaudhury.
“What is most important is that this delegation is seeking to engage with the British government to also seek a global consensus against Pakistan-based terrorism. We have not seen this focus in many years, and it is a welcome initiative by the government,” he told PTI.
“The big challenge will be that while focusing on seeking a global consensus against Pakistan-based terrorism, there is a risk that India’s focus will shift much more towards Pakistan than it has in the past. And, this brings about the challenges of not being re-hyphenated with Pakistan,” he cautioned.
Dr Chietigj Bajpaee, Senior Research Fellow for South Asia in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House, highlighted the “high degree of sympathy” for India’s position following the Pahalgam terror attack and the military response with Operation Sindoor.
“However, the discussions also revealed that India faces an uphill battle in keeping the international community focused on this issue given the plethora of global challenges,” said Bajpaee.
“In particular, the US/NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 has diluted the Western focus on terrorism. This may make it difficult for New Delhi to draw attention to Pakistan’s alleged role as a global hub for terrorism,” he noted.
Professor Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada, who leads the Responsible Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship (RISE) research excellence hub at Kingston Business School, stressed on the importance of the international community condemning Pakistan’s use of illegally occupied parts of Kashmir as a terrorist base to attack India.
“The Kashmir region is a natural part of India. Civilisationally, Kashmir has always been an integral part of India… I think it is the right time that the world acknowledges that civilisationally Kashmir belongs to India and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir should be relinquished by Pakistan,” said Prof. Tamvada.
The multi-party delegation, led by Prasad and comprising MPs Purandeswari, Chaturvedi, Ghulam Ali Khatana, Amar Singh, Samik Bhattacharya, M Thambidurai besides M J Akbar and Ambassador Saran, went on to meet members of the Conservative Friends of India (CFIN) and Labour Friends of India (LFIN) and are scheduled to meet House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle on Tuesday morning.
On Sunday evening, the group which has been conveying India’s zero-tolerance stance against terrorism emanating from Pakistan in several European capitals including Paris, Rome and Copenhagen addressed a large gathering of the Indian diaspora at the High Commission of India in London.
“You are in Europe. If Europe doesn’t remember fascism, which continent is going to remember fascism? You have generations here who remember the era of Hitler. This is the return of that era and we are witnessing it with our own eyes. But unless we understand it ourselves and explain it to others, we will have failed those who gave their lives,” said Akbar.
From London, Group 2 of seven similar all-party delegations travelling the world is scheduled for dialogues and interactive sessions in Belgium and Germany – where it will conclude its six-nation Europe tour. (PTI)
