Opposition MP Bob Blackman raises Jaishankar 'attack' in UK Parliament

London, Britain's Opposition Conservative Party lawmaker

Bob Blackman

on Thursday raised the issue of the "attack" on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in London by "

Khalistani thugs

" in the House of Commons. During a Business of the House session, the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee described the security breach on Wednesday evening as an affront to democracy and called on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to make a statement in Parliament on the issue of safety of Indian visitors to the UK.
It came soon after the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) had issued a statement strongly condemning the incident outside

Chatham House

in central London.
"Yesterday, the External Affairs Minister from India, Shri Jaishankar, was attacked when he was leaving a public venue where he had been addressing an audience of Indian people in this country," said Blackman.
"He was attacked by Khalistani thugs. That is against the Geneva Convention, and it appears that the police and the security forces failed to ensure that he was made safe. That is an affront to democracy, and an affront to our friends and allies in India," he said.

"We need to make sure that does not happen again. Will the Leader of the House ensure that the Home Secretary or an appropriate minister makes a statement to the House about what protection we will have to ensure that visitors to this country are safe?" he questioned.
Lucy Powell, the Labour government's Leader of the House of Commons, expressed her shock at the incident and assured Blackman of a "full response" from the Home Secretary.
"I am very sorry to hear about what sounded like a serious attack on a visitor to this country from the Indian Parliament. That is unacceptable and not the way in which we want our visitors to be treated," said Powell.
Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had called on the UK to "live up to their diplomatic obligations" after a protester attempted to breach the security perimeter as Jaishankar left the London venue after an in-conversation session on India's role in the world. It later also summoned UK Charge D' Affaires Christina Scott to register its serious concerns.
The FCDO, meanwhile, said, "any attempts to intimidate, threaten, or disrupt public events are completely unacceptable."
"The

Metropolitan Police

acted swiftly to address the situation, and we remain fully committed to ensuring the security of all our diplomatic visitors, in line with our international obligations," a spokesperson said.
The Met Police stressed that the protester who ran in front of the minister's stationary car waving a flag was "quickly intercepted by officers and moved out of the way".
"He did not get close to the minister who was able to leave the area without further incident. There were no arrests," a police spokesperson said.
Jaishankar, who is on a tour of the UK and Ireland this week, is to hold bilateral talks with his Irish counterpart, Simon Harris, in Dublin on Thursday.