NEW DELHI: The UK is reviewing safety on the Indian excessive fee in London and can make modifications to make sure the security of the employees, British overseas minister James Cleverly mentioned following one other protest outdoors the mission by pro-Khalistan activists.
Cleverly’s feedback additionally got here hours after Indian authorities lowered safety outdoors the UK excessive fee and the envoy’s residence in New Delhi on Wednesday in retaliation for the British facet failing to stop the vandalisation of the Indian mission in London throughout a protest on March 19.
The protests in London by pro-Khalistan teams, which started quickly after the Punjab police launched a statewide manhunt for pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh and his followers, have emerged as a recent irritant in India-UK relations. The exterior affairs ministry had referred to as within the senior-most British diplomat in New Delhi on Sunday to register a robust protest and to demand motion in opposition to these concerned within the vandalisation of the Indian mission.
Cleverly mentioned late on Wednesday that violence directed on the employees of the Indian excessive fee in London is “unacceptable” and his authorities is working with native police to evaluate safety on the mission. A police investigation is ongoing and the British facet is in shut contact with the Indian mission and the federal government on this regard, he added.
“We’re working with the Metropolitan Police to evaluate safety on the Indian Excessive Fee, and can make the modifications wanted to make sure the security of its employees as we did for [Wednesday’s] demonstration,” he mentioned in an announcement.
“Acts of violence in direction of employees on the Indian Excessive Fee in London are unacceptable and I’ve made our place clear to the excessive commissioner Vikram Doraiswami,” Cleverly mentioned.
“We’ll at all times take the safety of the excessive fee, and all overseas missions within the UK, extraordinarily critically, and stop and robustly reply to incidents comparable to this.”
Cleverly additional mentioned the India-UK relationship, “pushed by the deep private connections between our two nations, is flourishing”. The India-UK Roadmap 2030 guides the connection and “reveals what we are able to obtain once we work collectively, creating new markets and jobs for the 2 nations and serving to to deal with shared challenges”, he mentioned.
Bilateral ties had additionally taken a success not too long ago after the BBC aired a two-part documentary on the sectarian violence in Gujarat in 2002. Indian authorities banned the documentary, with the exterior affairs ministry describing it as “propaganda” that mirrored a colonial mindset.
On March 19, the London police arrived on the Indian mission after a pro-Khalistan activist pulled down the nationwide flag and others tried to enter the premises. Dozens of police personnel, together with mounted police, have been deployed for Wednesday’s protest in Aldwych space by a big group of pro-Khalistan activists.
The protestors shouted anti-India slogans and waved Khalistan flags, whereas Indian officers and others draped a large nationwide flag on the roof of the mission. One other massive Indian flag was put up outdoors the constructing.
The protest went on for a number of hours and Metropolitan Police prevented the demonstrators from approaching the Indian mission by erecting barricades and conducting marches within the space. Nevertheless, the protestors lobbed water bottles and eggs on the constructing from behind the barricades. A number of police vans have been deployed close to the mission and patrolling of the close by space was intensified since Sunday.