A disturbing incident of an attack on the Indian high commission in London took place on Sunday, where Khalistani radicals climbed up the first floor balcony of the high commission and threw down the Tricolour with the intention to set it on fire and tried to put up a Khalistani flag instead. It was the alacrity of the high commission staff that saved the flag, even though the windows of the building were broken by the vandals. Until the time of writing only one arrest has been made in the case, in spite of enough video evidence being there of a substantial number of radicals present in front of “India House”, responsible for what the London Metropolitan police described as a “violent disorder”. What is a matter of worry is that the hooligans entered the high commission premises, proving the complete lack of security that the British government is supposed to provide to all foreign missions. Thus the British government is violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which clearly spells out: “The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.” Sadly, given the recurrence of similar attacks, it is obvious that the British authorities are guilty of dereliction of duty. The London Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) has the task of protecting foreign missions on British soil, and is supposed to provide armed and unarmed security to the missions for this purpose. Where was this security when the hooligans breached the high commission’s premises? Any similar incident in India, would have led to the tightening of the foreign mission’s security manifold, so that nothing similar ever happens again. The Chinese embassy in New Delhi witnesses regular protests by peaceful Tibetan groups, but in all these decades their premises have never been breached. The local police has never allowed matters to escalate. Compared to that, the attitude of the London police is regrettable, given that they have enough information and intelligence about the existence of groups that work against India in the UK, with the full backing of Pakistan’s rogue establishment. In fact the 2019 attack on the Indian high commission in London, where India’s Independence Day function was disrupted by pro Pakistan Islamist and Khalistani elements is one of the most violent ones in recent memory. Projectiles were thrown, and Indians, mostly women and children, celebrating the occasion were forced to take shelter inside the embassy. The London police did not lift a finger to secure the Indians, perhaps because of the hatred that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, a British Pakistani, has for things Indian. That particular attack was led by Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s people and was allowed to take place by Sadiq Khan’s police. Given the way the threat perception to the Indian high commission has been ignored, will we be wrong to assume that this Pakistani gentleman is complicit in these attacks, if not directly, but at least by turning a blind eye?
But why target a puny mayor, when it is ultimately the British government’s job to ensure that all foreign missions are protected? The British high commissioner to India, Alex Ellis has tweeted that he condemns the vandalism as disgraceful and unacceptable. Nowhere does he mention that the vandals will be brought to book. Given the lack of action on the part of the British authorities, in spite of India’s displeasure made clear to them by the Ministry of External Affairs, one wonders who is protecting the Khalistanis. Is this vote bank politics at work, the way it is in Canada, or is it a case of the colonial mindset at work? Surely the US embassy in London will not face such problems because it will be provided with adequate security, unlike the high commission of a former colony. So the British government is guilty in this case. Its appeasement policy will come back to haunt it. It’s just a matter of time.
As for those who think that the man from Dubai, Amritpal Singh can be turned into another Bhindranwale and that a Khalistan can be carved out of India, they forget that times have changed and it is not easy to take on the might of the Indian state in 2023, the reason why their great hope, the Waris Punjab De chief is literally on the run, fearing for his life. No amount of shrill rhetoric from Canada or the UK and Australia will change the fact that the embers of this Pakistan-backed Khalistani movement can no longer be stoked. If they are so keen to establish a Khalistan, let them establish it in the countries they reside in. The people of Punjab are happy being Indian.