India-Pakistan: Escalation

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Jas Athwal

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

Our priority is to ensure direct contact between India and Pakistan and to ensure that those tensions are directly de-escalated. We are of course very proud that we are Commonwealth members with both India and Pakistan, and that Commonwealth membership reflects a deep and unique history between the UK and India and the UK and Pakistan. We welcome the free trade agreement that was announced yesterday, and of course these are close, deep friendships between both the countries involved. We will, in all our efforts, seek to restore regional stability and we will do that with both our friends.

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your advice on tempering our language in here, because words have consequences. I thank the Minister for his statement and the Foreign Secretary for all the work that they are doing in the background. Yesterday in this House, we celebrated the end of world war two and I commended the role of the British Indian troops—now known as India and Pakistan—who fought shoulder to shoulder, with their shoulder to the wheel, to ensure that we, the allied troops, won and world war two was ended. As someone with Indian heritage, born in India and whose parents were born in Pakistan, I know only too well that neither nation will take a backward step, so what can the Minister do to assure me and my residents in Ilford South that we will do everything possible to bring both the superpowers to the negotiating table to restore peace to this volatile part of the world?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for the sensitive and personal tone that he brings to his remarks. I, too, have seen the Commonwealth war graves in Pakistan and India, which are a tribute to the service of many from the British Indian forces that fought in world war two. I can assure him and his constituents that we will do everything we can to play our full diplomatic role.

Middle East Update

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Jas Athwal

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is right that permanent occupation of Gaza would be a grievous blow to a two-state solution. Clearly, the Gaza strip should be a central part of a Palestinian state, and I can assure him that we continue to keep all these matters under close review.

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement. It is crucial that there is recognition of the Palestinian state and that the Palestinian people are represented as equals at the negotiating table. Given what has gone on in the region recently, does the Minister agree that Israel must immediately lift all restrictions on aid and allow unfettered access to humanitarian assistance in Gaza? If Israel refuses, what levers can we use to save innocent lives?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is right about the critical nature of the aid shortages in Gaza. The World Food Programme has been clear that it is running out of all stocks to sustain life, and it is vital that the Israelis reverse their path and allow aid back into the strip.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Jas Athwal

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I think the hon. Gentleman’s question is: will I condemn the existence of British Indian and British Pakistani communities? No, I won’t. There is tension between those communities and I have called for calm. If he is asking me whether I think there has been too much immigration over the last 14 years, yes indeed—[Interruption.] I am very happy to take guidance from Mr Speaker on what the question was.

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement. I would also like to associate myself with the condemnation of this horrific and cowardly attack on innocent people. Ilford South is home to a large diaspora of Indian and Pakistani descent. Following the horrific murder of the 26 tourists, whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the terrorists orchestrated their heinous attack, India points the finger at Pakistan and Pakistan denies any involvement. Both are nuclear powers. What steps are the Government taking to de-escalate this particular situation?

[Mr Falconer]

As I have said, we have been engaged with both states extensively over the past few days. We are taking all the steps we can to ensure that heightened tensions do not lead to the risk of uncontrolled escalation.

Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Jas Athwal

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

To be clear, they were granted entry clearance, rather than a visa. The distinction may seem academic to this House, given that both would have permitted my hon. Friends to travel to the airport. Clearly, it was not a surprise to the Israeli authorities that they arrived.

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

I share the anger of most Members of this House. It is completely unacceptable that two Members of this House were denied entry to the occupied territories in the west bank by the Israeli authorities. Does the Minister agree that more than ever, now is the time to be united and show solidarity across the House with our parliamentarians, whose only mistake was to do their jobs by representing their constituents without fear or favour in this House and holding Israel accountable for its actions?

[Mr Falconer]

I can confirm that I would like to see unity across the House on such matters, and that any parliamentarian, of any political party, would enjoy the support of the Foreign Office under such circumstances.