India: Minorities

Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I do not think that there is anybody in this House who would not agree that we should—and do—believe in the equal treatment of all people of all faiths and beliefs. This is fundamental to who we are. We have laws that support this, and the vast majority of people in this country support that too. Where we fall short or where there are problems in our communities or at high-profile events, there are steps that could and should be taken, and this Government support that.

[Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)]

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?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I hear the challenge, and it is a judgment, is it not? You are trying to get a trade agreement with the Government of India. Is that best served by including measures on human rights? Would that jeopardise your trade agreement? Should that then happen? Or will you see the reaction that you would like in terms of human rights by standing firm? I just do not know which would be the right way to go, but at the moment we are dealing with a trade agreement and we are also having conversations about human rights. I think that, from where we are at the moment, that is the right thing to do. It is treating the Government of India with respect and allowing us to have those conversations, which I would say are often more fruitfully had in private than in other ways that we could go about this.