The Indian high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, and the Indian consul-general in Edinburgh were on Friday stopped by some people from entering a Glasgow gurdwara to which they had been invited.
The incident appeared a spill-over from the ongoing face-off between New Delhi and Ottawa over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of an Indian government role in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Friday’s incident has been reported to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK and the police.
In a late Saturday statement — issued after a video of the incident began circulating online — the high commission said three people, all from outside Scotland, had deliberately disrupted a planned interaction organised by the gurdwara committee for the two diplomats and the community to discuss issues relating to local Indian expats and consular matters.
With the diplomats’ vehicle being accosted at the parking lot itself, they left almost immediately.
“One of the non-local extremist elements attempted to violently force open the HC’s car door — a matter that will require suitable police consideration,” the high commission said.
“It is due to the quick reaction of one of the organisers, who physically intervened at the car door, that a bigger incident was avoided.”
The Glasgow incident came on a day external affairs minister S. Jaishankar underscored in Washington the need for the world not to normalise the kind of intimidation that Indian diplomats have faced in Canada. Earlier, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken had urged New Delhi and Ottawa to work together to resolve the stalemate in bilateral relations over the Nijjar issue.
As he has been saying in the US over the past couple of days, Jaishankar urged the world to take into account the permissive atmosphere that prevails in Canada, allowing separatists like the Khalistan advocates to flourish.
“There is today a climate of violence, atmosphere of intimidation… we have had smoke bombs thrown at the mission, we have had violence in front of consulates, individuals have been targeted and intimidated; there are posters put up about people. Tell me, do you consider this normal?... If this had happened to any other country, how would they react? I think that’s a reasonable question to ask,” Jaishankar said.
“Let’s not normalise what is happening in Canada. What is happening in Canada, had it happened anywhere else, do you think the world would have taken it with equanimity? If it had happened to any other country would they have taken it so calmly? I think it is necessary to call out what is happening there.”
Responding to questions on his bilateral with Jaishankar, Blinken said at a media conference: “We’re very concerned about the allegations that have been raised by Canada, by Prime Minister Trudeau. We have been in close contact with Canada about that and at the same time we have engaged with the Indian government and urged them to work with Canada on an investigation.”
Jaishankar’s response to Blinken’s public iteration of the US stance was to again provide context, maintaining that the killing should not be seen in isolation but as part of the permissive climate available to such elements in Canada.
“I don’t think it is acceptable to threaten diplomats. I have flagged here as I have flagged to the Canadians. We are a democracy. We don’t need to learn from other people what freedom of speech is about…. We don’t think freedom of speech extends to incitement to violence. That to us is misuse of freedom. It’s not defence of freedom.”
