Nearly a month after UK Parliament discussed a resolution on Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today drew the attention of British MPs to terrorism, extremism and radicalisation and urged them to raise a collective voice against these problems.
Hosting an eight-member delegation of British Parliamentarians here, he described India and UK as natural partners in the global fight against terrorism.
He urged the visiting Parliamentarians to "continue to raise their collective voice against terrorism, extremism and radicalization," the PMO said in a statement.
The Prime Minister's emphasis on terrorism during his interaction with British MPs assumes significance as the UK Parliament had discussed on January 20 a resolution on Kashmir in the context of "escalation of violence and breaches of international human rights"
The resolution had called on "the (British) government to encourage Pakistan and India to commence peace negotiations to establish a long-term solution on the future governance of Kashmir based on the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their own future in accordance with the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions."
India has been maintaining that cross-border terrorism, emanating from Pakistan and territories held by it, is blocking any resolution of the Kashmir issue and holding up talks between the two countries.
While interacting with the visiting delegation, the Prime Minister said the relations between India and UK have strong bipartisan support in both countries.
He called for enhanced interactions between the Parliamentarians of both countries, the statement said.
Modi fondly recalled his own visit to the UK in November 2015, and the visit of Prime Minister Theresa May to India in November last year.
He also welcomed the celebration of 2017 as the India-UK Year of Culture.
(Reopen DEL36)
The delegation of British Parliamentarians, led by Indian-origin MP Virendra Sharma, also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed post-Brexit opportunities for UK and India in terms of trade and cooperation in key sectors.
"We have only been in India for two days but we are already improving contacts between the Indian and British governments," said Sharma, Labour MP from Ealing Southall, a constituency heavily dominated by Indian-origin people.
"I have had productive discussions with both Mr Modi and Mr Jaitley about the fantastic work that has already been done on TB eradication and I know there is a real desire to make progress on this issue," said the Chair of Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
Sharma, who is also co-Chair of the TB APPG, intends to use the visit as an opportunity to promote cooperation on eradication of the disease.
He said he had also raised "issues of concern for the millions of British-Indians that live in the UK and are proud to be part of a large Indian diaspora."
The issue of demonetisation has been raised several times and "we had frank discussions about its impact", he said.
The cross-party delegation also included Jonathan Reynolds, Charlotte Leslie, Edward Argar, Oliver Dowden, Marie Rimmer, Bob Blackman and Lord Northbrook.
The group arrived in Delhi yesterday and has planned meetings with key members of the Indian government and Parliament during the five-day tour.
The familiarisation tour is the first of a series to be organised by the Indian High Commission in London and will also serve as a fact-finding mission for several Members of Parliament in the UK less familiar with India.
