AGENCIES / NEW DELHI / LONDON
India today conveyed its concerns regarding protests being planned by pro-Pakistani separatist groups on January 26, Republic Day of India, in London, UK.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the matter was taken up by the Indian High Commission in London with the UK Foreign Office to avoid any “untoward” incident.
“You are aware that there have been incident that have happened in the past and we have taken up the matter very strongly with the UK Foreign Office. This was again done by the High Commissioner of India in London. We have sensitised them about the need to secure our premises, the safety of our personnel who are there. This is all part of what constitutes normal diplomatic behaviour by other country. We do hope that UK government will take adequate steps to ensure no untoward incident takes place,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
There were three protests earlier, one of which turned very violent on September 4, 2019, leading to damage of property of the Indian High Commission. The other two were August 15 (Independence Day) and October 24 (Diwali) of 2019.
On Wednesday, Indian High Commissioner to UK, Ruchi Ghanshyam, called on UK Home Secretary Priti Patel expressing concerns over the planned protests outside the UK mission on January 26. There are banners that have been put up calling people to assemble outside all Indian missions across the globe in a “Burn Indian Constitution” drive. Another poster calls for ‘London Protest’ to declare ‘Indian Republic Day as Black Day’.
These posters have raised concerns and India has taken up the specific issues with the UK authorities.
In a tweet, High Commissioner Ruchi Ghanshyam referred to the concerns when she met Priti Patel. “High Commissioner called on Home Secretary Priti Patel and discussed issues of mutual interest to take forward India-UK ties. She conveyed security and safety concerns flowing from planned protests including on Republic Day at India House.”