U.K., India Seek to Reboot Bilateral Relationship

[Vikrant]

PM Modi is in UK.

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LONDON—Britain and India looked to reboot a bilateral relationship that some say isn’t living up to its full potential, with plans to intensify collaboration in finance, business, defense, and energy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first official visit to the former colonial power.

At a joint news conference on the first day of Mr. Modi’s visit Thursday —the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister for almost 10 years—Prime Minister David Cameron said Indian and British companies had agreed on new collaborations worth more than £9 billion (about $14 billion) but there was scope to go much further. Aides said details of the deals would be released over the course of the visit, but included investments in a range of sectors including energy and health.

Mr. Cameron said it was probably true that for years the relationship between Britain and India had in some ways been imprisoned by the past and misconceptions that trade with India was simply about outsourcing.

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U.K., India Seek to Reboot Bilateral Relationship

 

[Vikrant]

New Delhi: India will “strongly raise” with the UK government the issue of how Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is using certain groups based in that country to radicalize Sikh youths and collect funds for terrorist activities in India, a senior Indian government official said as Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his maiden visit to the UK on Thursday.

A secret report prepared by central intelligence agencies and reviewed by Mint says operatives of outfits that are banned in India such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Commando Force (KDV), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) were involved in collecting funds and sending them to their “intermediaries” based in Punjab and Pakistan.

Babbar Khalsa and ISYF are also banned in the UK as on 27 March, according to the UK government’s list of “proscribed terrorist organizations”.

A senior Indian government official, who did not want to be identified, said: “We have concrete information that operatives like Paramjit Singh Pamma of BKI in the UK have been organizing classes for not just radicalization of Sikh youth, but also training them in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with commonly available chemicals at some locations in Birmingham and Glasgow. We will share the specific details with security agencies in the UK when discussions on terror take place during the visit of Prime Minister Modi.”

“Another issue that we will highlight is how outfits like BKI have started an Internet radio called Babbar Khalsa Radio which regularly glorifies some of the militants killed by security forces in Punjab. Then, TV channels like the Sangat TV and Sikh Channel in the UK regularly broadcast anti-India programmes with a view to promoting the formation of a separate (state of) Khalistan. Basically the idea is to sensitise security and intelligence agencies as to how the ISI is playing a key role in promoting radical elements within the Sikh community in the UK to encourage anti-India activities.”

Central intelligence had recently prepared a detailed report on how the ISI was trying to bring together militant groups from Punjab and Kashmir in an attempt to push terrorist activities in India.

“There are inputs that during a meeting of these radical groups in West Midlands on 20 September, an amount of £97,750 was collected. These funds are then sent to operatives of banned organisations like BKI, KCF and KZF in Pakistan and Punjab. So we would want the UK to check such anti-India activities on its soil,” a second government official said, requesting anonymity.

In his briefing to the media on Modi’s UK visit, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar on Tuesday touched on the subject of India-UK cooperation on counter terrorism.

“In terms of what the discussions would be, obviously there would be a lot of political and security-related discussions both on global and regional issues including on countering terrorism and extremism. UK still has a lot of experience, knowledge, presence even today in a number of parts of the world which are of interest to us. They still, for example, have a contingent in Afghanistan. If you have counter terrorism understandings with the UK, at the end of the day it actually keeps India more secure,” Jaishankar said.

Sikh militancy in the UK, rife in the 1980s, had subsided in recent years until General K.S. Brar, who commanded Operation Bluestar against militants in the Golden Temple, and his wife were subjected to a knife attack by a group of Sikhs in central London in 2012. The attackers were arrested, and in 2013, two of them were sentenced to 14 years in jail and the remaining two to 11 and 10.5 years for what prosecutors described as a “highly premeditated assault”.

India to raise issue of Sikh radicalization with UK

 

[Vikrant]

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As Mr Cameron introduced his Indian counterpart to the stage, he said the UK-India relationship was "about our potential", and said both countries were "united by the scale of our ambition".

"Team India, team UK - together we are a winning combination," he added.

The crowds applauded when he said it would not be long before there was a British Indian prime minister in Downing Street.
Mr Modi gave his speech mainly in Hindi, aside from a short welcoming opening in English.

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Modi visit: UK and India's 'special relationship' hailed - BBC News

 

[Vikrant]

Away from the glare of television cameras and his domestic critics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK last week has managed to radically reshape the contours of the India-UK partnership.

Where the media was keen to highlight the controversies surrounding Modi, he has managed to redefine the India-UK relationship for the new century.

Though the two countries sealed £9billion worth of commercial deals in the retail, logistics, energy, finance, IT, education and health sectors, it was the perceptual change in this bilateral tie-up that will have a much lasting impact on the future trajectory of a relationship which was seemingly headed nowhere before this visit.

Modi’s visit came at a time when there were widespread doubts in the UK if New Delhi took the UK seriously at all despite British Prime Minister David Cameron’s impressive outreach to India.

Ever since he came to office six years ago, Cameron had made a serious effort to upgrade India-UK ties. In fact, in his first term, India was at the top of the list of emerging powers which his government decided to court.

And it did make a serious effort only to be snubbed by the then UPA government.


Read more: Modi redefines India's relations with the UK
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