India has been speaking with greater candour in recent weeks about obstacles in its relationship with Britain, highlighting how efforts by the British government to take forward the relationship, particularly via a post-Brexit trade deal, could struggle.
Just a week after the Indian High Commissioner warned that bilateral relations would struggle to progress without recognition from Britain that the centre of terrorism lay to India’s West, the High Commission here has expressed its concerns about plans for a rally to be held in the city of Birmingham to commemorate the first death anniversary of Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen commander, on July 8.
‘Note verbale’
The office of the Deputy High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik sent a “note verbale” on the matter to the British Foreign Office on Monday. “We are concerned that in Britain where such terrorist incidents are taking place, their authorities would allow for the celebration of the death of a terrorist,” said Mr. Patnaik on Tuesday.
The move, seen as an unusually candid one by India, highlights the country’s increasing willingness to highlight issues of tension between the two countries, as debate in Britain focuses almost solely on the untapped potential to enhance the trade deal between the two countries.
Reflects frustration
Gareth Price of Chatham House said that India’s increased frankness likely reflected frustration about the fact that its message that bilateral relations went well beyond the economic realm to issues such as security and terrorism were not being heeded in Britain, despite efforts by India over the past decades to make its views plain. “It is almost like two different conversations are happening in parallel.”
“These are things that India has been saying quite explicitly but no one seems to have listened to it on the British side. It hasn’t had the recognition India wants. We are back where we were in the 1980s where the issue of Sikh militants was one of the biggest impediments to stronger relations.”
‘Undue focus’
Speaking at an event on post-Brexit opportunities between India and Britain last week, High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha told delegates that there was an “undue focus” on the free trade agreement with India, and with the few FTAs India had signed globally, expecting one in the immediate aftermath of Brexit might be “expecting too much.” Other issues on terrorism, security and beyond also had to be confronted, he said, highlighting the issue of terrorism. “We’ve been facing terrorist attacks for decades…you were sceptical in the past about terrorist attacks we faced….all I can say is we must confront this.”
He also raised the issue of Vijay Mallya, stating that Britain had become a “haven for fugitives from justice” as well as Britain’s willingness to tolerate “anti-India activity.” He said the argument that Britain was an open society that had to allow such activity to take place didn’t work, as India was a “robust democracy” but didn’t interfere in internal affairs of friends and allies.
Wani, 22, was killed with two other militants in Anantnag district on July 8 last year, triggering protests across the Kashmir Valley, following a mission that security agencies described as the “biggest ever success” in recent times. Public support has also been expressed for him by some in Britain. During the India-Pakistan match in Edgbaston last month, some protesters carried images of Wani, alongside other posters calling for a “free Kashmir.”
