India Raises Concern After UK Allows 'Khalistan' Referendum in London
India Raises Concern After UK Allows 'Khalistan' Referendum in London
Ajit Doval has made it clear to his UK counterpart that the Modi government takes strong exception to the UK allowing a referendum.

India has conveyed its serious concerns to UK for allowing banned pro-Khalistan organisation Sikhs for Justice to hold a referendum on the secession of Punjab on October 31. The referendum, which was held in London few weeks back, turned out to be a damp squib as over 2,000 people attended it.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has made it clear to his UK counterpart Stephen Lovegrove that the Indian government takes strong exception to the UK allowing a referendum on affairs of a third country by weaponising a minuscule section of the Indian diaspora, a report in Hindustan Times said. The Indian position was conveyed to the UK during the bilateral strategic dialogue on November 3 in London.

The report said that the Indian government conveyed its serious concern that the UK government is turning a blind eye to the open radicalisation of the Indian diaspora by Sikh banned groups to promote their secessionist agenda. It added that the Sikh radicals have been holding protests on the farm laws and participating in anti-India activities in the UK under the influence and support of Pakistani deep state.

Sikhs for Justice is a banned organization in India since 2019 and its leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu has been declared a terrorist. During the referendum, the organisers had pressed into service buses to ferry people from different parts of the UK, but couldn’t manage to bring a large number.

Despite the ban on the organisation, the UK allowed the US-based extremist organisation to conduct an illegal referendum on the Indian state.

Though, European countries including France, Spain and Netherlands with whom India has very close ties, the bilateral ties with the UK have been derailed as London plays an adversarial role against New Delhi when it comes to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, and the ‘Khalistan issue’.

The report said that UK’s role in tacitly supporting Pakistan on issues like abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A in Jammu and Kashmir in August, 2019, has been noted with concern by the Modi government.

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