‘Licence accorded to such forces in UK’: India on Jaishankar’s security breach

India on Friday pressed the UK to take action against the pro-Khalistan elements involved in the breach of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s security in London and said the incident showed the “licence” accorded to such forces as well as “indifference” to their “intimidation and threats”.

A pro-Khalistani protester attempted to break barricades while some others were shouting anti-India slogans as Jaishankar was leaving the Chatham House after concluding an interactive session at the institute on Wednesday evening.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal suggested that the sincerity of the British authorities over the incident would be measured on the action they take against the culprits involved.

“We have conveyed our deep concern to the UK authorities about the breach of security arrangements by UK-based separatist and extremist elements during the external affairs minister’s visit,” he said.

“There is a larger context to the incident. It brings out both the licence accorded to such forces, as well as indifference to their intimidation, threats, and other actions aimed at impeding our legitimate diplomatic activities in the UK,” he said.

While India has noted the statement issued by the UK Foreign Office on the matter, our view of its sincerity would depend on the action taken against culprits on this and previous occasions, Jaiswal added.

The Foreign Office condemned the incident.

Jaishankar was in London in the first leg of his six-day visit to the UK and Ireland from Tuesday.

India on Thursday condemned the incident of security breach and said it expects the host government to fully live up to their diplomatic obligations in such cases and deplored the “misuse of democratic freedoms” by those elements.

The charge d’affaires at the British High Commission was also called to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and was served a demarche on the matter.

In March, 2023, certain pro-Khalistan elements pulled down the Indian flag at the Indian high commission in London, triggering strong reaction from India.

Following the incident, India summoned the senior-most British diplomat in Delhi and demanded an explanation over complete “absence of security” at the mission.

India has been asking the UK to take action against pro-Khalistani elements operating from British soil.