ISLAMABAD: Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has testified to the fact that the British government had conducted an investigation on its own into the 2002 Gujarat riots in India after the large-scale violence created ripples in the UK. He said that the investigation was carried out after citizens of Gujarati Muslim origin in the UK were worried about their loved ones in India and were making representations to that effect to the then Tony Blair government.

During an interview with ‘The Wire’ regarding BBC’s documentary about the 2002 Gujarat riots, the former British diplomat said that the simple fact was that in Britain, including in his constituency, there were hundreds of thousands of people from the Indian state of Gujarat, mainly Muslims.

There was a lot of concern and there were also people that he knew whose families were affected by these inter-communal riots directly and they were making representations to them, he added. Straw further elaborated that the ripples of the Gujarat riots were felt in the UK and that as a result, then British High Commissioner Sir Rob Young ordered an investigation. The 29-minute interview with Straw was conducted days after BBC aired the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, which revealed that British authorities had ordered an inquiry into the riots as they had found the extent of the violence alarming.

It further said that the riots aimed to “purge Muslims from Hindu areas.” “That undoubtedly came from Modi,” the documentary maintained.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 23 2023

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