- Friday, April 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Sources in the Narendra Modi government on Monday (10) dismissed reports suggesting New Delhi has “disengaged” from trade talks with Britain for failing to condemn the Sikh extremist group that attacked the Indian high commission in London on March 19, a day after police in the northern state of Punjab launched a massive manhunt for Khalistan separatist leader Amritpal Singh.
They called the reports “baseless”, according to NDTV.
The rebuttal came soon after The Times in the UK reported about it, citing sources in the British government.
Khalistan sympathisers staged a protest demonstration at the high commission in the wake of the manhunt for Singh, who is still on the run. The mob committed an act of vandalism at the diplomatic establishment and brought down the Indian Tricolour, prompting the mission to put up an even bigger flag in response.
The Indian government summoned a senior British diplomat in New Delhi to lodge a strong protest against the act.
The country’s external affairs ministry sought an explanation for the “absence of security” at the mission premises and said the British government’s “indifference” to Indian diplomats and personnel was “unacceptable”.
The Times quoted a Whitehall source as saying, “Indians don’t want to talk about trade until they get a very public demonstration of condemnation of Khalistan extremism in the UK.”
Security was beefed up at the diplomatic premises after British foreign secretary James Cleverly assured that his government will review security at the mission. The situation improved vastly during another similar protest held by the Khalistan sympathisers later the week.
