National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (File photo).
National security advisor Ajit Doval is set to meet his UK counterpart Tim Barrow on Saturday in London for the annual strategic dialogue and is expected to convey India’s serious concerns over the UK turning a blind eye towards rise of Sikh radicalisation and anti-India sentiments fueled by Pakistan Muslims in the country.
They are expected to exchange notes on terrorism emanating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and the overall situation in the Middle-East.
The meeting in London is being held in the backdrop of the backdrop of the BBC documentary on Gujarat riots, which critically examined the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was chief minister of Gujarat when statewide communal violence took place in 2002 in which officially over 1000 people, mostly Muslims, had been killed.
It is said that the British deep state is turning out to be a serious hurdle in bilateral ties as it resents the fact that the once colony of the British empire has taken over the UK in terms of economy and global clout. According to the IMF, India is the fastest growing large economy in the world and Britain is the weakest link in the G-7 economies, according to the Hindustan Times. The paper also reported that the another area of concern for the Modi government is the English nation providing shelter/safe haven to economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Sanjay Bhandari, and others.
India and Britain have an extradition treaty, but not a single economic offender has been sent back to India with the ball being tossed between Courts and the Whitehall.
Today, India and UK do not see eye to eye on Bangladesh, Pakistan and definitely not Afghanistan with London trying to act as a big brother in the Indian sub-continent with a soft corner towards Pakistan, according to the newspaper.
Doval has recently held a talk with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in Washington where bilateral and global issues were discussed. “They discussed a range of topics including US-India defence cooperation and regional security issues,” the Indian Embassy said in a tweet Tuesday.
-INDIA NEWS STREAM