India: Minorities - Question

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:29 pm on 2 July 2025.

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Photo of Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Liberal Democrat 3:29, 2 July 2025

My Lords, I too want to express disappointment, as did my noble friend Lord Purvis, at the lack of human rights chapters in the trade agreement with India. If we look at the Amnesty International report from 2024, we see that huge concerns were expressed about the detention of journalists, about the bulldozer justice that is meted out to minority faiths and about issues in the Punjab and Kashmir. If we cannot challenge the Indian Government but are just going to raise issues with them, what are we going to get back from them, other than just having words with them? Have the Government dropped the ball with this trade agreement, in which they should have included human rights chapters?