MPs delegation seeks to sensitise U.K. lawmakers to Pak-sponsored terror attacks on India

Indian parliamentarians led by Ravi Shankar Prasad sensitize U.K. lawmakers to cross-border terror, aiming to shift opinion on Pakistan.

On the last day of their visit to the U.K., the all-party delegation of parliamentarians from India, led by Rajya Sabha MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, met Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, in an attempt to sensitize lawmakers to India’s experience of cross-border terror from Pakistan, including the April 22 Pahalgam attack and its response via Operation Sindoor. Over the last three days, the delegation had met with civil society, think tank and diaspora members, in addition to junior ministers.

Members of the multi-party delegation, comprised of male and female MPs from different religions, regions and parties, said that those they had met in Britain were receptive to India’s concerns and sympathetic its situation. However, tangible policy shifts appeared to be elusive for now, with the delegation aiming to shift opinion and not expected to directly impact policy. Several members of the delegation suggested that those conversations would and do occur at the bureaucratic or ministerial level.

At a media briefing at the Indian High Commission in London, on Tuedsay (June 3, 2025), Mr Prasad outlined the history of conflict between India and Pakistan and India’s economic prospects, contrasting these with Pakistan’s trajectory. He listed some of the terrorists Pakistan had harboured including Osama bin Laden (who was killed by U.S. forces in 2011). Speaking to journalists, Mr Prasad said the killer of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl had been killed in India’s Operation Sindoor strikes.

“The world needs to speak with one voice” and Pakistan should be made to pay for sponsoring terrorism, Mr Prasad said, adding that getting to this outcome was the purpose of the visit. He suggested that funding from Pakistan (such as from the International Monetary Fund or IMF) was going towards weapons purchases rather than poverty alleviation.

“We are invoking the human spirit of all democratic countries and we trust in that spirit of human rights, civilized conduct…” , said Mr Prasad , in response to a question from The Hindu on whether U.K. lawmakers had committed to policy responses and whether India had used any leverage to elicit a change in response.

“Remember, we are parliamentarians…”, Mr Prasad said, adding that there were other exchanges between the prime ministers and foreign ministers of India and the U.K.

The delegation’s interlocutors on the British side were familiarized with Pakistan’s terror infrastructure “where the distinction between the military leadership and the terror network is no more in existence”, according to Mr Prasad.