§ Fiona MactaggartTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what actions he has taken in response to the disappearance of Surjit Kaur Athwal, a British citizen, in India in December 1998. [142500]
§ Mr. HainWe have expressed our concerns about Mrs. Athwal to the Indian authorities on numerous occasions and at a high level. Mrs. Athwal's family met the Acting Head of Consular Division in August and will meet Baroness Scotland, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, early in the New Year. Through out efforts the Indian police granted permission for the Metropolitan police to become involved in the investigation, and we arranged for officers to travel to India this year to assist their Indian counterparts in any way possible. The family have a legal representative in India but a court case did not produce the result they were, seeking, for lack of evidence. We shall continue to press the authorities to keep up their efforts to try to find Mrs. Athwal.