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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the level of discrimination faced by Christians in the states of (a) Madhya Pradesh and (b) Gujarat; and what representations he has made to the Indian Government. [160125] Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government are concerned about the religious violence against Christians, including the attacks that took place in Madhya Pradesh in January. We understand that the situation in Jhabua has now improved and that religious leaders and the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister have met to look at ways of improving inter-community relations. Our High Commission in New Delhi will continue to monitor the situation closely. We condemned the religious related violence in Gujarat in 2002. The vast majority of victims were Muslim. We welcome the Government of India's assurances that they will take action to bring to justice the perpetrators of violence. However, we understand that, to date, there have been very few prosecutions. We have repeatedly voiced our concerns with the Indian authorities on this, and will continue to do so. We raised our concerns with the Government of India about the attacks on Christians in Gujarat in 1999 at the time. Since then, violence against Christians in Gujarat has declined. We provided immediate relief assistance to the victims of violence and we are now funding project work in Gujarat to encourage reconciliation between the worst affected communities. We have raised the issue of rights of minorities with the Indian Government. We will continue to urge the Indian authorities to ensure the right to freedom of religion is upheld, and that those responsible for attacks on religious minorities are brought to justice.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

419 c309-10W;419 c311-2W; 160125

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Equality Human rights India Religion Religious freedom Violence Christianity

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk