Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his United Kingdom counterpart Boris Johnson agreed to ask their respective National Security Advisers (NSAs) to meet in London to discuss matters pertaining to the Khalistan movement and the long-pending extradition of embattled tycoons Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, The Tribune reported.
Britain is home to an influential Sikh community and Indian leaders claim there are some groups there that are ambitiously sympathetic to the cause of Khalistan.
Sikh groups began agitating for a separate homeland in India in the 1970s. India’s then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, sent the military into the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, to flush out fighters there at the height of the revolt in 1984.
A few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards at her home in Delhi.
Over the weekend, over 30,000 members of the British Sikh population took part in the Khalistan referendum voting in London near the Parliament in a massive show of support for the cause of a separate homeland.
“PM Johnson, I think agrees fully that some of these groups need to be reined in and that clearly, steps have to be taken to see how such activity which under no means is democratic, or constitutional should be or could be used to address these recent incidents,” said Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
He was asked to elaborate on the discussion between the two prime ministers on counter-terrorism after a spurt in activity from pro-Khalistan groups.
The police were deployed outside the Indian High Commission in London late last year after peaceful demonstrations took place in its vicinity and then-Indian high commissioner, Ruchi Ghanshyam, had met Home Secretary Priti Patel to convey New Delhi’s concerns in this regard.
India also wants to bring back Mallya, 65, whose business interests have ranged from aviation to liquor, over $1.4 billion in loans Kingfisher took out from domestic banks which the authorities argue he had no intention of repaying.
His extradition would be a huge win for Prime Minister Modi, who has faced pressure from political opponents to bring to justice several people who have fled India in recent years to escape prosecution, many for loan defaults.
While Modi, the diamond tycoon, fled India before details on his alleged involvement in $2.2 billion bank fraud, India’s biggest, became public in 2018. The fraud dented confidence in the state banking sector and New Delhi has since tried to get Modi extradited.
The security advisers will examine in detail “all of these issues that are important to the consular and security and other aspects of our relationship”, said Shringla, when asked to comment on the pending extradition of the two businessmen.
