- Thursday, March 27, 2025
A Khalistan activist broke away from the police cordon near Chatham House in London when Jaishankar was leaving the venue
By: India Weekly
INDIA on Thursday (6) condemned a security breach during its foreign minister S Jaishankar’s visit to London when a protester broke through a police cordon, stood in front of the minister’s car and tore the Indian flag before being taken away.
India’s foreign ministry said it expects Britain to live up to “diplomatic obligations” and called the group of protesters a “small group of separatists and extremists”.
Videos posted on social media showed a handful of protesters waving flags of a Sikh separatist Khalistan movement and shouting slogans outside the think tank Chatham House in London on Wednesday (5) where Jaishankar was speaking.
A member of the group broke away from the police cordon as Jaishankar was leaving the venue and was taken away by police officers within seconds.
Jaishankar is on a six-day trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“We deplore the misuse of democratic freedoms by such elements. We expect the host government in such cases to fully live up to their diplomatic obligations,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, said in a statement.
UK condemnation
The UK has strongly condemned the security breach saying such attempts to “intimidate, threaten, or disrupt” public events are “completely unacceptable”.
“We strongly condemn the incident that took place outside Chatham House yesterday (Wednesday) during the external affairs minister’s visit to the UK,” a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said.
“While the UK upholds the right to peaceful protest, any attempts to intimidate, threaten, or disrupt public events are completely unacceptable. The Metropolitan Police acted swiftly to address the situation, and we remain fully committed to ensuring the security of all our diplomatic visitors, in line with our international obligations,” the spokesperson said.
Jaishankar on human rights
Earlier, during his session at Chatham House, the minister was asked about human rights concerns pertaining to India.
“A lot of this is political. We have been for political reasons at the receiving end of a lot of expressions and campaigns on human rights. We listen to it. We are not perfect, nobody is perfect. There can be situations which require redressal and remedy,” said Jaishankar.
“But I would actually argue, if one looks around the world, we have a very strong human rights record,” he said.
“As a credible democracy, where people have growing faith in our democracy, where representation has broadened in every conceivable way over the last many decades, where the state has been very fair in terms of treatment of its citizens, I think any sweeping concern on human rights is misplaced. I don’t see any justification for it at all,” he added.
Khalistan threat
The Khalistan movement advocates a separate Sikh homeland carved out of India and is considered a security threat by the Indian government.
It has been a flashpoint in an increasingly tense relationship between Canada and India.
In April 2023, India asked Britain for increased monitoring of UK-based supporters of the Khalistan movement after protesters carrying “Khalistan” banners last month detached the Indian flag from the diplomatic mission’s building. (Agencies)
