Indian-origin UK MP Priti Patel condemns Pahalgam Attack, takes stand for India

An Indian origin Member of the Parliament in UK, Priti Patel on Thursday condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people, calling it an ‘act of terrorism’. 

Speaking at the Parliament, Patel urged the Britain government to support India during the difficult times and pressed on working together to tackle the terrorist threats.

“We must stand with our Indian friends at this time. In the House of Commons I pressed the UK Government on what they are doing to support the Government of India in response, and how we can work together to tackle the terrorist threats to our freedoms that we all face,” she wrote caption on X.

“Mr Speaker, my condolences, thoughts and prayers are also with all those affected by this murderous, violent terrorism that has taken place in Pahalgam. And I recognise that for India and the communities in the UK in particular, this has been a really difficult week. This was an act of terrorism and we should call it out for exactly for what it is. And it is part of a long-standing pattern of attacks on civilians, visitors to the region and also minority communities,” said Patel in her speech.

She said that the UK has a series of long-standing security and counterterrorism partnerships with India going back to the New Delhi Declaration in 2002 and the India-UK Strategic Partnership in 2016, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership announced in 2022, and the UK India 2030 roadmap agreed under the last government. 

“Does the government believe the LeT, the terrorist group proscribed in the UK, bears responsibility, or is the government aware of any cross-border links to Pakistan of the perpetrators of this terrorist act? We know the Prime Minister spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, but has the UK provided any specific support in response to this terror attack and taken any practical steps to assist our friends in India?,”she questioned.

Patel also questioned the government if they inquired from the Indian government whether US Vice President JD Vance’s visit was a coincidence or ‘a pattern of targeted and deliberately timed attacks’.

Notably, Priti Patel MP has visited India in November 2013 (when she was appointed as the UK PM’s UK-India Diaspora Champion), January 2014 and July 2014.

She accompanied the prime minister during his programme to New Delhi and Kolkata, attended the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in 2014, and accompanied the chancellor of the exchequer to Mumbai and New Delhi.

She has met with a wide range of interlocutors including Prime Minister Modi.