New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the security of Indian diplomatic premises and the return of economic offenders with his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak in a phone call on Thursday.The Indian readout of the phone call said that the prime minister “raised the issue of security of Indian diplomatic establishments in the UK and called for strong action against anti-India elements by the UK government”.Last month, India had summoned the senior UK diplomat at the high commission in New Delhi after a pro-Khalistan protester removed the Indian flag from the premises. India had even removed the security barriers outside the UK high commission and the official residence of the envoy.According to the MEA press note, Sunak expressed that the UK deems the assault on the Indian High Commission as completely unacceptable and assured the safety of the Indian Mission and its staff.The Downing Street press statement noted that Sunak had “reiterated his condemnation of the unacceptable violence outside the Indian High Commission in London earlier this month”.“He stressed that extremism had no place in the UK and updated on the steps being taken to ensure the security of Indian High Commission staff,” added the British readout.Both statements also stressed that the leaders had called for an early conclusion of negotiations for an India-UK free trade treaty. The emphasis was significant as a major UK newspaper had reported earlier this week that India had stalled the FTA talks to demand greater action by the UK against Khalistan groups. Indian government sources had termed the report as “baseless”, but there had been no official response.India also said that Prime Minister Modi sought progress on the return of economic offenders who have taken refuge in the UK so that they can be tried in the Indian judicial system. However, the UK statement was silent on Sunak’s response.The phone call took place on a day that India’s Enforcement Directorate booked the British Broadcasting Corporation for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The BBC’s office had been raided by income tax authorities after the international media group had broadcast a documentary that examined the anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 when Prime Minister Modi was the chief minister of the state.Neither of the two public statements indicated that the issue of BBC had been raised.
