New Delhi: India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday met his UK counterpart Tim Barrow and raised the issue of extremist elements in the UK threatening officers of the Indian High Commission and urged the British government to take stringent action against those elements such as deportation or legal prosecution.
UK National Security Adviser Tim Barrow is on an official visit to New Delhi on 7 July at the invitation of Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser of India for the India-UK strategic dialogue. He is accompanied by a delegation of senior UK government officials.
The meeting assumes significance amid the heightened activities of Khalistani elements in the UK. On June 15, the UK-based chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and alleged handler of separatist Amritpal Singh, Avtar Singh Khanda, died under mysterious circumstances in a Birmingham hospital.
Both the NSAs agreed to enhance cooperation to address violent extremism and radicalism and asserted that there can be no justification for violent extremism and radicalisation in a democracy.
It is worth mentioning that the two NSAs have engaged regularly in extensive discussions on a broad bilateral, regional, and global agenda.
The current visit by the UK NSA will allow them to continue their high-level dialogue, which will include a review of the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries and explore futuristic areas for technology collaboration.
Sources said that the two National Security Advisers met for restricted discussions on regional and global issues of mutual interest. This was followed by the delegation-level talks where both countries reaffirmed their close strategic partnership and agreed to accord maximum priority to enhance the security linkages further.
"Both the sides agreed to work on counter-terrorism, counter-terror financing, use of the internet for terrorism purposes, illicit drug trafficking and counter-radicalisation", sources said.
The two sides further agreed to deepen mutually beneficial collaboration in critical and emerging technologies. During the visit, NSA Tim Barrow will also meet some other government officials.
