§ 10. Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East)If he will make a statement on the recent visit to India by the Minister of State. [99953]
17. Mr. Michael J. Foster (Worcester)If he will make a statement on the United Kingdom's relations with India. [99961]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Hain)At the request of the Prime Minister, I visited India last month to open a new chapter in our relations with India, and I had excellent discussions with Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Vajpayee. We agreed on a new partnership of equals between our countries, including an alliance between our information technology sectors.
§ Dr. IddonIndia is often criticised for not allowing foreign politicians, non-governmental organisations— especially Amnesty International—and the wider media free access to Jammu and Kashmir. Certainly during a visit to Islamabad and Azad Kashmir this summer, a group of Labour Members of Parliament felt that criticism strongly, but when we put that to the Foreign and Home Secretaries in New Delhi, we got the opposite point of view. Did my hon. Friend have similar discussions during his recent visit to India, and if so, what were his impressions?
§ Mr. HainI did, indeed, have such discussions, and I specifically raised with leading members of the Indian Government the desire of NGOs and British Members of Parliament to visit Kashmir. They are now much more sympathetic to that idea, and we want to explore that with them. It is in India's interests to make sure that human rights are respected in Kashmir, and for that reason I raised with them the imprisonment of virtually the entire Kashmiri leadership, which is not a good advertisement for India's policy on Kashmir.
687 I must, however, point out that India is on the receiving end of cross-border terrorism, which we strongly condemn, and we want to work with the Indian Government to prevent that. They have shown great restraint over Pakistani attacks, especially at Kargil earlier this year.
Mr. FosterI recently held a meeting with Worcester's ethnic minority consultative forum, at which its members related to me their fears about the situation in Kashmir. Next time that my hon. Friend meets representatives of the Indian Government, will he impress on them the strength of feelings expressed at that forum, which seeks a peaceful, lasting solution to the problem in Kashmir which is acceptable to the people of Kashmir?
§ Mr. HainI am aware of the excellent work that my hon. Friend does in his constituency with that forum, and the way in which he allows it to express its views, which we all value. We will indeed continue to press for the case for resuming close negotiations between Delhi and Islamabad, as soon as that is possible following the Pakistani coup. I understand the difficulties of proceeding to that point overnight, but it is absolutely imperative that India and Pakistan together negotiate an equitable and lasting solution to the Kashmiri crisis, which otherwise will continue to be a very dangerous flash-point in the region.