UK PM Rishi Sunak green lights new Indian youth visa scheme
London (PTI): British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday green lit a new youth mobility partnership scheme that will offer 3,000 visas to 18-30-year-old degree-educated Indians every year to live and work in the UK for up to two years.
The reciprocal scheme, which will also involve British nationals living and working in India, was signed as part of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) last year and will now be formally launched in early 2023.
The scheme was launched by Sunak as part of the UK's Indo-Pacific focus at the G20 Summit in Bali, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confirm the new bespoke route and which Downing Street said makes India the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme.
"I know first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties we have with India," said Sunak, Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister.
"I am pleased that even more of India's brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer and vice-versa - making our economies and societies richer," he said.
The launch of the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme is dubbed a "significant moment" for the bilateral relationship and the UK's wider commitment to forging stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen both Indian and British economies.
It is also seen as an effort to propel the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, which are now expected to run until at least March next year.
Downing Street says such an FTA will be the first deal of its kind India has made with a European country and would build on the UK-India trading relationship worth GBP 24 billion annually.
The UK has more links with India than almost any country in the Indo-Pacific region as nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India and Indian investment into the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the UK, it pointed out.
"In parallel to the mobility partnership with India, we are also strengthening our ability to remove immigration offenders. A landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the UK and India in May 2021 aimed at increasing mobility between our countries, returning those with no right to be in the UK and India respectively and sharing best practice on organised immigration crime," Downing Street said.
On the wider Indo-Pacific focus, Sunak is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia the largest gathering of global leaders in the region since before the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Indo-Pacific is increasingly crucial for our security and our prosperity. It is teeming with dynamic and fast-growing economies, and the next decade will be defined by what happens in this region," said Sunak, ahead of that meeting.
Downing Street said the UK PM will encourage China to use its place on the global stage responsibly to resolve geopolitical tensions, ensure regional stability and play its part in tackling the devastating global impact of the war in Ukraine.
It confirmed that work is underway on an update to last year's Integrated Review of the country's foreign policy priorities to take account of "Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the evolving challenges posed by China".
Meanwhile, as part of that Integrated Review, the UK reiterated its commitment to build the "broadest presence" in the Indo-Pacific of any European country.
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3 killed in firing and teargas shelling by security forces in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
Islamabad (PTI): At least three people were killed and six others injured when security forces opened fire on protesters during clashes with paramilitary Rangers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s capital Muzaffarabad which has been rocked by protests against high prices of wheat flour and inflated electricity bills, a media report said on Tuesday.
The paramilitary Rangers, which were called in to maintain law and order in the disputed region, came under attack while moving out of the region, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Instead of exiting via Brarkot, the village bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the 19-vehicle convoy, including five trucks, chose to exit the region from Kohala, it said.
As the convoy reached Muzaffarabad in a “charged atmosphere”, it was pelted with rocks near Shorran da Nakka village, to which they responded with teargas and firing, the report said.
After entering the city through the Western Bypass, the Rangers were welcomed with rocks again, prompting them to use teargas and bullets. The shelling was so intense that the entire neighbourhood reeled from it, the report said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had yesterday approved a Pakistani Rs 23 billion subsidy for immediate release to the region after the negotiations between the protesters and the regional government ended in a deadlock.
However, the government’s decision to dole out the subsidy failed to pacify the region, the report said.
The disputed region also witnessed clashes on Saturday between the police and activists of a rights movement, leaving at least one police officer dead and injuring over 100 people, mostly policemen. A complete strike has also been observed in the territory since Friday, bringing life to a halt.
Shortly before the violence, Prime Minister Sharif and the disputed region’s ‘prime minister’ Anwarul Haq after a meeting had approved the release of Pakistani Rs 23 billion for the region on account of power and wheat subsidies.
The subsidised rate for 40kg flour will be Pakistani Rs 2,000, down from Pakistani Rs 3,100. The electricity tariff was reduced to Pakistani Rs 3, Rs 5 and Rs 6 per unit for up to 100, 300, and more than 300 units, respectively, the Dawn reported.
The protest is led by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the region, who have been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in the region, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class.
A long march led by the JAAC left for Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, on Monday as the wheel-jam strike entered its fourth day.
The movement announced its march on Muzaffarabad after the talks between the JAAC core committee and Chief Secretary of the region Dawood Bareach ended in a stalemate.
Expressing deep concern over the violent clashes between the police and the protesters, Prime Minister Sharif on Sunday said that there should be “absolutely no tolerance for taking the law into one’s own hands".
"I urge all parties to resort to a peaceful course of action for resolution of their demands. Despite the best efforts of detractors, the matter will hopefully be settled soon," he said.
As part of his efforts to calm down tensions, President Asif Ali Zardari urged all the stakeholders to exercise restraint and resolve the issues through dialogue and mutual consultation.
