New Delhi: India on Monday said that it has indicated to the British authorities the need to put up security at the UK High Commission and that perpetrators need to be arrested and prosecuted. This comes after India's External Affairs Ministry summoned the senior-most UK diplomat on March 19 to convey India’s strong protest at the action taken by separatist and extremist elements against the Indian High Commission in London. The Indian flag was pulled down from the Indian High Commission in London by Khalistan sympathisers protesting against the police crackdown on separatist Amritpal Singh.
In response to the media query related to the issue, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, during a special briefing on Monday said, "We already put out India's response to it in which the UK Deputy High Commissioner was asked for an explanation". "Perpetrators need to be arrested and prosecuted. We indicated to the British authorities the need to put up security at the UK High Commission", Kwatra added.
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Reacting strongly to the incident, India's External Affairs Ministry on Sunday said, "An explanation was demanded for the complete absence of British security that allowed these elements to enter the High Commission premises". The top UK diplomat was reminded of the basic obligations of the UK government under the Vienna Convention in this regard.
"India finds unacceptable the indifference of the UK government to the security of Indian diplomatic premises and personnel in the UK, the Ministry of External Affairs said, "The statement from the Ministry of External Affairs read. "It is expected that the UK government would take immediate steps to identify, arrest and prosecute each one of those involved in today’s incident, and put in place stringent measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," MEA said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab police confirmed via tweet that 34 arrests were made on March 19 and the situation in the state is peaceful. According to sources, more than 100 supporters of Amritpal Singh, who is at large, have been arrested. The British High Commission to India Alex Ellis has also expressed high condemnation against the incident and said, "I condemn the disgraceful acts today against the people and premises of the @HCI_London - totally unacceptable".
