“A terrible terrorist attack has been perpetrated, and India has our full support in going after the perpetrators of that attack,” UK Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer told the House of Commons this week.
In response to an Urgent Question entitled ‘Kashmir: Increasing Tension’, Smethwick MP Gurinder Singh Josan called for a statement on the killings in Pahalgam on April 22. He, along with several cross-party members of Parliament, also sought the government’s efforts to ensure calm in the region and also among diaspora communities in the UK.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel asked: “Are the Government aware of any cross-border links to Pakistan among the perpetrators of this terrorist act? Given that attacks seem to take place at the same time as high-profile US politicians visit India — this is not the first time — do the government have a view on whether this is a coincidence, or whether it demonstrates a pattern of targeted and deliberately timed attacks?
“Finally, can the minister give an update on the actions being taken to prevent tensions from escalating among communities in the UK — including protections for the High Commissions… and will the UK leverage its influence to ease tensions between India and Pakistan?
While the minister declined to go into details of intelligence and security matters, Falconer stressed that UK security agencies are looking into links because terrorism – wherever it is found – is a threat to global peace and security.
He added: “We are playing our role to try to ensure that tensions do not escalate. Many of us in this House are familiar with the tense and storied history between the two countries. We are friends to them both, and we do not want to see an uncontrolled escalation in tensions.
“This escalation is unsettling for communities within the UK. British Pakistanis and British Indians are valued parts of our community, but we look to all community and faith leaders to spread the message that now is the time for coming together across religious and ethnic differences, not to play out the tensions between two states on the streets of the UK, and we will continue to send that message.”
There was strong condemnation of the killings of 26 innocent tourists in the terrorist attack last week, with MPs calling for UK intervention.
The minister reiterated the country’s established stance on Kashmir: “The long-standing position of the UK is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir.
“It must take into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people and it is not for us to prescribe a solution. We will continue in those efforts.”
The diaspora’s concerns around the BBC’s characterisation of the attack as “militancy”, rather than a terrorist attack, was also raised during the session by Conservative MP Sir Gavin Williamson.
“I resist calls for ministers to police the BBC’s language too much, but let me be clear: this was a horrific terrorist attack, and that is the view of the British government,” the minister asserted.
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