Miliband 'open and honest' during trip, says his office
With British Foreign Secretary David Miliband leaving a trail of controversies in India after his visit to the sub-continent, his office insisted that he had been "open and honest" in his views, even as the opposition in the UK described his trip as a "disaster".
With British Foreign Secretary David Miliband leaving a trail of controversies in India after his visit to the sub-continent, his office insisted that he had been "open and honest" in his views, even as the opposition in the UK described his trip as a "disaster".
Miliband's attempts to link terrorism to the Kashmir issue have not been received well in political circles in India and the opposition Conservatives in Britain too have expressed apprehension that Indo-UK ties could be damaged.
"The Foreign Secretary was very open and honest about his views, which are those of the British government. He delivered the same message in New Delhi as he did in Islamabad," a spokeswoman for Miliband said last night.
An official of the Foreign Office has been quoted by The Independent that Miliband had a "very good visit".
"The Foreign Secretary had a very good visit and what he took away to Pakistan was a very clear sense of anger felt about the Mumbai attacks and the need for decisive action by Pakistan, supported by the international community, to root out the terrorism that struck India with such devastating effect," he said.
The leading British newspaper also took potshots at the 43-year-old Foreign Secretary, saying, "Miliband was beginning to look as accident-prone as Mr Bean last night after yet another adventure backfired."
"After ruining his chance of the Labour leadership by gurning (making faces) at the cameras while brandishing a banana, the Foreign Secretary's visit to India last week was labelled a 'disaster' by the country's leading politicians," the report said.