New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday strongly conveyed India’s misgivings over a resolution by the European Parliament on the Manipur situation, telling its Vice President Nicola Beer that “internal issues” of sovereign countries should not be discussed or debated by others.
The European Parliament in July had adopted a resolution calling on the Central government to act "promptly" to bring an end to the violence and protect religious minorities in the Northeast state.
"Birla underlined India's sovereignty and protested against bringing a proposal in the European Parliament on India's internal issues," a statement issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said.
India dubbed the European Parliament’s resolution as “unacceptable” and “reflective of a colonial mindset”.
Meanwhile, addressing the G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit (P20) on Saturday, the Lok Sabha Speaker said in an “interconnected” world, no issue should be viewed in isolation.
“Many members mentioned the situation in West Asia, while some others talked about strengthening multilateralism, the need to encourage international trade and the need for resilient supply chains. I have noted these references carefully. In today's interconnected world, we cannot look at any issue in isolation,” Om Birla said in his closing statement at the concluding session of the P20 Summit.
Birla also noted that paragraph 27 of the Joint Statement adopted at the summit underlined parliamentary diplomacy to ensure international peace and supporting a peaceful resolution to conflicts.
"We will continue to engage in parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue in relevant fora as a catalyst for promoting international peace, prosperity and harmony, including supporting the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes," the joint statement read.
Meanwhile, Nicola Beer congratulated Birla for a successful P20 Summit and stressed on closer relations of the European Parliament with India.
The Lok Sabha speaker also handed over the P20 presidency to the president of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Cesar Pereira de Lira.
It is to be noted that Brazil will hold the G20 presidency next year.