NEW DELHI: A day ahead of the planned rally by Khalistani supporters across countries, including the UK, Britain’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Tim Barrow held a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
“India has raised the issue of the extremist elements in the UK threatening individual officers of the Indian High Commission and urged the UK government to take strong action against these elements such as deportation or legal prosecution,’’ said a source aware of the meeting’s development.
India and the UK also agreed to enhance cooperation to address violent extremism and radicalism. They reiterated that there can be no justification for violent extremism and radicalization in a democracy.
It may be recalled that Khalistani supporters had brought down the Indian flag at the Indian High Commission on March 20 this year. Britain has assured India of all support to rein in these extremist elements. Khalistani supporters have called for a rally on July 8 and in the posters talking about the rally they have added pictures of Indian diplomats threatening to harm them.
The meeting between the NSAs comes after the mysterious death of Avtar Singh Kanda, UK chief of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) on June 15 in Birmingham. Kanda had spearheaded the vandalism of the Indian High Commission in London and brought down the Indian flag.
Khanda is said to have been an expert in bomb-making. He was admitted to Sandwell Hospital Birmingham and was on life support after being diagnosed with cancer. However, there are conflicting reports on the exact cause of his death and there isn’t any official confirmation of the same.
Khanda was born in Moga, Punjab and was the son of Kulwant Singh Khurana- who was from KLF too and was gunned down by security forces in 1991. His mother too is said to have been related to KLF terrorist Gurjant Singh Budhsingwala.
Meanwhile, both the NSA's agreed to work closely on counter-terrorism. “Both the sides agreed to work closely on counter-terrorism, counter-terror financing, use of the internet for terrorism purposes, illicit drug trafficking and counter-radicalisation,’’ a source said.
Barrow is in India on the invitation of Doval for the India-UK Strategic Dialogue. He is accompanied by a delegation of senior UK government officials. “The two had productive and wide-ranging discussions on furthering the UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and also covered global security issues,’’ according to the British High Commission.
Both Barrow and Doval have met at regular intervals and have been regularly engaged in discussing bilateral, regional and global issues. The current visit has given them the opportunity to continue their high-level dialogue, which will include a review of the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries as well as explore futuristic areas for technology collaboration.
Both sides have agreed to accord maximum priority to further enhance the security linkages.it was also agreed to deepen collaboration in critical and emerging technologies. Barrow is likely to meet other dignitaries during his ongoing visit.