Meeting secured with Prime Minister

Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, I raised the very alarming situation in India, where riots on the streets of Delhi have left over 20 people dead and almost 200 injured in the past three days.

The current situation arose from protests against a controversial citizenship law which quickly turned into violent clashes on the streets of the city. The new law has been criticised by many as anti-Muslim.

More information and background to the trouble is available on this BBC News article.

I’m keen to ensure that the UK uses its influence to urge India to take action to ensure freedom of belief is upheld in India. My concern is that the UK will turn a blind eye once post-Brexit trade negotiations open up with the country. We simply cannot allow fundamental freedoms and rights to be overlooked in our rush to do business.

If the UK is truly to be a significant player on the world stage, then we must do all we can to make sure that India upholds freedom of religion and belief.

I’m very pleased to have secured a meeting at Downing Street to discuss the issue in more depth with the Prime Minister and representatives from Christian Solidarity Worldwide and look forward to reporting back to you about this.