New Delhi: India’s high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, was on Friday, September 29, stopped from entering a gurudwara in Scotland by radical Sikh groups.According to the Times of India, a pro-Khalistani youth said some of them had found that Doraiswami had a meeting planned with the gurudwara committee of the Glasgow Gurudwara on Albert Drive.“A few people turned up and told him he is not welcome and he left. There was a slight confrontation. I don’t think the gurudwara committee is happy about what happened. But Indian officials are not welcome in any gurudwara in the UK,” the Khalistan supporter told the newspaper.An Instagram page called ‘Sikh Youth UK’ posted a video in which tables are kept ready to serve langar to the high commissioner. It also shows one of the youths there confronting a gurudwara committee member over the invitation to the high commissioner.The Instagram page also posted another video in which two youths walk to the high commissioner’s car and try to open the door, which was locked from inside. The car then reverses and leaves from the spot.Another member from the radical group told TOI, “This is exactly how we should greet anyone from the Indian government who comes to the gurdwara in an official capacity under any excuse of doing visa applications, or whatever it might be. We know the games they are playing. We know what is happening in Canada. It is a slap in our faces when the Canadian PM has openly condemned India and expelled Indian diplomats and our people who run our gurudwara committees openly invite them.”On the incident, a press statement from the Indian high commission in London said, “Three persons – all from areas outside Scotland – deliberately disrupted a planned interaction by the Gurudwara Committee for the community, the High Commissioner, and the Consul General of India. This interaction was to discuss community and consular issues.”Press Release on the incident at Glasgow Gurudwara Saheb.@MEAIndia @PTI_News @ANI @VDoraiswami @sujitjoyghosh pic.twitter.com/MZhpV3eSLP— India in the UK (@HCI_London) September 30, 2023The statement said organisers included senior community leaders, ladies and committee members, and a member of the Scottish parliament. “They were threatened and abused by these elements. In an effort to prevent any potential altercation, the HC and CG decided to leave the premises shortly upon their arrival.”The high commission statement said that “one of the non-local extremist elements” tried to force open the high commissioner’s car but was prevented by one of organisers.The matter has been reported to the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and to the Metropolitan Police, the statement added.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK’s minister of state for Indo-Pacific, has also expressed “concern” over the incident. “The safety and security of foreign diplomats is of utmost importance and our places of worship in the UK must be open to all,” she said.Concerned to see that the Indian High Commissioner @VDoraiswami was stopped from meeting with the Gurudwara Committee at the Gurudwara in Glasgow.The safety and security of foreign diplomats is of utmost importance and our places of worship in the UK must be open to all.— Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP (@annietrev) September 30, 2023Note: This copy has been subsequently updated with the statements of the Indian high commission in London and the UK’s minister of state for Indo-Pacific, after it was first published.