Missing woman case 'breakthrough'

Surjit Kaur Athwal: Fears of "honour killing"

The family of a woman missing in India has welcomed the foreign secretary's pledge to take up her case personally.

Campaigners called the commitment a "crucial breakthrough".

Surjit Kaur Athwal, from Hayes, west London, disappeared in the Punjab five years ago during a family holiday.

Campaigners have also hailed a decision by the UK's race body to look into the Foreign Office's handling of the case.

Mrs Athwal's brother, Jagdeesh Singh, alleges the Foreign Office has treated his sister's case less favourably than that of missing white Britons.

Mr Singh said the meeting with Jack Straw had allowed them to air their concerns.

And he said Mr Straw's pledge to raise his sister's case directly with the Indian Government was real progress after a five year "blockage".

"It is a positive move forward. We will as a family and through the Justice for Surjit campaign, support Jack Straw's official efforts.

"We are glad that that he has now recognised Surjit's case and accorded it the equal importance and intervention that it has deserved from the start," Mr Singh said.

'Differential treatment'

After Mrs Athwal disappeared during a holiday to the Punjab in December 1998 her mother-in-law, who had accompanied her, and her husband said she had run off with a boyfriend.

Jagdeesh Singh called for investigation of FCO

But her brother, parents and other family members believe the mother-of-two, who had just started divorce proceedings, was the victim of a so-called "honour killing".

Jagdeesh Singh and other members of the Justice for Surjit campaign have expressed dissatisfaction at the way the case has been handled by both the Indian authorities and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

His claims about the treatment of his sister's case by the FCO have been strenuously denied by a spokeswoman.

However, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is now to get involved after being contacted by Mr Singh.

In a letter to Mr Singh last week, Farzana Hakim, an advisor to CRE chairman Trevor Phillips, said the organisation would be writing to Jack Straw about issues of "differential treatment" raised by the Justice for Surjit campaign.

They would then study the response to see if any further action was necessary, Ms Hakim added.