New Delhi, April 20:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a straightforward conversation with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday with the belief that the visiting dignitary will over-ride long-standing vested interest in his country and open a new chapter in bilateral ties. Johnson will inaugurate a factory in Gujarat tomorrow and then hold official meetings in Delhi on Friday.
During his visit, India hopes that the UK reviews its position on Pakistan and China and takes a stand that is befitting of a true democracy. Indian officials have been frustrated by UK’s long-standing association with Pakistan’s military and its inability to call spade a spade on terrorism directed towards India from the Islamic Republic. India has noted the role played by the then UK Chief of Defence Staff Gen Nick Carter in getting the Rawalpindi GCHQ involved in Afghanistan for the past years because of which ISI supported Haqqani Network, a globally designated terrorist group, is ruling Kabul today. Gen Carter retired in November 2021.
While the Indian leadership will have a candid and unvarnished discussion on the Ukraine war with Johnson, New Delhi will point out the alliance between the Pak and UK military over getting Taliban and Haqqani terrorists to seize power in Kabul and destroying human rights of minorities in that country. Today armed with sophisticated weapons left behind by the withdrawing coalition forces from Afghanistan, India is facing a terror threat from Pakistan with jihadists using night vision devices and M-4 assault rifles in Jammu and Kashmir.
Although the UK wants to convert India against Russia over Ukraine and now promotes an Indo-Pacific strategy, London put the trade on a priority with China and opened sensitive technologies like 5G, nuclear and high-speed rail with the hope of becoming the financial hub of China’s Belt-Road Initiative. UK has been dragging its feet on ties with the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh while supporting ties with the Opposition BNP of Khaleda Zia.
The role played by UK based pro-Khalistan groups in funding and supporting the farmers agitation in India against the now withdrawn farm laws will also be raised by New Delhi. Despite Indian security agencies raising the Khalistan separatist issue with their British counterpart, the radical element was allowed to hold demonstrations against the Modi government in the UK and raise funds in the name of activist farmers.
While the UK has been proactive in freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs in their country even though they do not face any criminal charges, London has been reading the law to India when it comes to the extradition of fugitive businessmen—Vijay Malaya and Nirav Modi—who have serious criminal charges against them. The Modi government hopes that the UK will be more supportive of extraditing the two Indian fugitives.
During the visit, PM Modi and PM Johnson will discuss taking bilateral trade forward through the free trade agreement (FTA) route with discussions already on between officials of the two countries. PM Johnson has an opportunity to open a new chapter with India but a relationship among equals and without condescension.
