Brown arriving on unscheduled visit
The international community continued to reach out to India with British prime minister Gordon Brown set to visit India on Sunday on an unscheduled stopover.
By ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: The international community continued to reach out to India with British prime minister Gordon Brown set to visit India on Sunday on an unscheduled stopover.
Mr Brown, who is expected to be in India for a couple of hours, will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the latest developments in the Mumbai terror attacks investigations and the current diplomatic standoff with Pakistan.
There was no earlier plan for the British prime minister to visit India. Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan but is planning a withdrawal next year, is also keen to gauge the level of tension between India and Pakistan and possibility of a military stand off. Britain is already convinced that Pakistan-based elements are behind the attack in which British citizens were also targeted.
British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg has said that there is evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks. ``We take the view that there is clear evidence that attacks in Mumbai have links to organisations in Pakistan and we have been urging the government of Pakistan to take effective measures to deal with this.��� Indian investigators have established clear linkages between the Mumbai terror attacks and Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.
The British prime minister���s visit comes in the backdrop of a stream of high profile visitors to India including US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Mr Brown had visited India last January. At that time, both Mr Brown and Mr Singh had announced counter-terrorism co-operation between the two countries was a high priority.
Immediately after the terror attacks, Mr Brown had spoken to Mr Singh and sent a condolence message. Mr Brown had expressed outrage over the incident and said that there should be a ���vigorous response��� from India to the attacks. He had further said that Britain would stand by India and wanted to offer help.
After the attack, Britain had also sent a team of Scotland Yard detectives to India to help Indian investigators probe the multiple attacks in which 160 people killed and at least 327 injured.
Mr Brown, who is expected to be in India for a couple of hours, will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the latest developments in the Mumbai terror attacks investigations and the current diplomatic standoff with Pakistan.
There was no earlier plan for the British prime minister to visit India. Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan but is planning a withdrawal next year, is also keen to gauge the level of tension between India and Pakistan and possibility of a military stand off. Britain is already convinced that Pakistan-based elements are behind the attack in which British citizens were also targeted.
British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg has said that there is evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks. ``We take the view that there is clear evidence that attacks in Mumbai have links to organisations in Pakistan and we have been urging the government of Pakistan to take effective measures to deal with this.��� Indian investigators have established clear linkages between the Mumbai terror attacks and Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.
The British prime minister���s visit comes in the backdrop of a stream of high profile visitors to India including US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Mr Brown had visited India last January. At that time, both Mr Brown and Mr Singh had announced counter-terrorism co-operation between the two countries was a high priority.
Immediately after the terror attacks, Mr Brown had spoken to Mr Singh and sent a condolence message. Mr Brown had expressed outrage over the incident and said that there should be a ���vigorous response��� from India to the attacks. He had further said that Britain would stand by India and wanted to offer help.
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After the attack, Britain had also sent a team of Scotland Yard detectives to India to help Indian investigators probe the multiple attacks in which 160 people killed and at least 327 injured.
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