Modi, Johnson speak on radicalism on COP26 sidelines

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday (1) met his British counterpart Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which formally kicked off on Sunday (31) and during their brief bilateral exchange, the two leaders spoke on the issue of counter-terrorism and agreed on the need to rein in extremist activities by certain fringe separatist outfits.

Monday was the first day of the two-day World Leaders’ Summit of COP26 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In a media briefing at the close of the day, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said Modi and Johnson exchanged concerns over rising radicalism. He said it when asked whether anti-India activities by separatist groups that organise pro-Khalistani agenda in the UK were discussed by the two prime ministers.

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“In many senses, the extremism that we are seeing in certain fringe groups seem to be speaking out on issues that they have no legitimate right to do so and without traction of any kind. But nonetheless, it’s causing a certain level of disequilibrium and concern in both our countries,” Shringla said.

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The Indian diplomat said prime minister Johnson agreed that some of such extremist groups need to be rein in and steps have to be taken to see how such activities, which are under no means democratic or constitutional, could be addressed.

During his media interaction, Shringla also reviewed the developments at the WLS, during which Modi revealed India’s contribution towards climate action by unveiling its National Determined Contributions of setting up a realistic goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

The foreign secretary said as Modi has said, climate change for him is an article of faith and India is more than fulfilling its commitments.

Shringla also said that the subject of extradition of economic offenders such as Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money-laundering, was not specifically discussed at length during the short bilateral meeting. He added that the national security advisers of India and the UK will discuss the issue in detail in an upcoming meeting on Wednesday (3).

Modi and Johnson also spoke on a potential UK-India free-trade deal and Johnson reiterated India’s commitment to deepening trade, investment and business ties between the two nations, Downing Street said.

Strengthening cooperation on bilateral defence and security and on international issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, were also among topics that were discussed on the sidelines of the WLS which concludes on Tuesday (2).