LONDON: An Indian delegation led by Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani visited Madina and other holy sites over the weekend as part of her two-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Indian media outlets have reported.

Ms Irani — who is also the women and child development minister — travelled to Madina along with Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and other senior officials, according to The Indian Express.

The delegation also interacted with Indian volunteers “who provide dedicated and selfless service to Indian Haj pilgrims, including during Haj 2023” and Umrah pilgrims from India.

Ms Irani shared photos from her visit in a post shared on social media platform X on Monday, and said: “Undertook a historic journey to Medina today, one of Islam’s holiest cities included a visit to the periphery of the revered Prophet’s [peace be upon him] Mosque, Al Masjid Al Nabwi, the mountain of Uhud, and periphery of the Quba Mosque — the first Mosque of Islam.”

Rajnath in UK for talks on ‘military collaboration’

She added that the significance of the visit to these sites “intertwined with early Islamic history” and “underscores the depth of our cultural and spiritual engagement”.

She also attended the inauguration ceremony of the third Haj and Umrah Conference in Jeddah.

Until 2021, non-Muslims were not allowed to visit Madina, after which a relaxation of rules allowed them to visit the city centre up to the periphery of the Masjid-i-Nabwi.

The visit followed an agreement between India and Saudi Arabia, under which New Delhi was allocated a quota of 175,025 pilgrims for the annual Haj pilgrimage in 2024, The Indian Express reported.

Rajnath visits UK

Separately, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh began a two-day visit to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, with reports suggesting discussions on possible collaborations for military equipment between the two countries.

Mr Singh is the first Indian defence minister to have visited the UK in 22 years, and his trip is being viewed as a “significant improvement in bilateral ties” between the two countries.

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, a senior fellow for South and Central Asian defence, strategy and diplomacy at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said the visit is significant despite differences between India and the UK on the Russia-Ukraine war.

“...defence technological and industrial partnerships, a key objective of India’s efforts to boost self-reliance in arms production, remains challenging with the reluctance of the UK defence industry to engage boldly with India, unlike their counterparts in the US and France,” Mr Roy-Chaudhury wrote in an analysis for Indian publication The Wire.

He added that Mr Singh’s visit “could prove pivotal by progressing significant collaborative projects at a political level”.

This could include the co-development of gas-turbine propulsion technology by Rolls-Royce and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation for the next generation of Indian fighter aircraft engines.

He noted that the UK government supports India’s plans to develop its defence industry, but “in practice, no significant India-UK collaboration regarding defence capabilities has occurred as yet”.

“Additional challenges could include the emergence of firm evidence on allegations of official Indian involvement in targeted assassinations/assassination attempts in the US and Canada, as well as a rise in Sikh separatist (Khalistani) extremism in the UK,” the scholar added.

Atika Rehman also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024