‘No shift in UK policy after Burhan Wani rally stopped’

LONDON: Britain withdrawing permission to the July 8 ‘Kashmir Rally’ in Birmingham to commemorate the death of Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani after India’s strong protest did not signal a policy shift to events seen as ‘anti-Indian’, official sources here said.

Britain allowing several groups to hold events and activities seen by New Delhi as ‘anti-India’ has been one of the core concerns in the relationship, highlighted by India's ‘note verbale’ on the Birmingham rally and a recent strongly-worded speech by the Indian high commissioner, YK Sinha, who said improved post-Brexit trade ties were not possible without London addressing India's core concerns.

Dominic Asquith, British high commissioner to India, told Hindustan Times here on Friday: “There is no shift in policy as I see it. The UK’s approach to terrorism and counter-terrorism with India has always been rock-solid all the way. We have close collaboration (on this issue) across many strands”.

“This (permission withdrawal) was a decision taken by the Birmingham City Council. A lot of focus was directed at the position of Burhan Wani. We are not changing our position on terrorism. It is exactly what it has always been; strongly opposed to it”, he added.

Asquith – the great-grandson of former prime minister H H Asquith (1852-1928) – said terrorism had affected both Britain and India, and it came up in every conversation between prime ministers Theresa May and Narendra Modi, most recently at the G20 summit.

However, he said: “There is a long tradition of freedom of speech, but at the same time there are constraints around enabling people to go around their normal lives and concerns about inciting violence. It is difficult to say which future events will be like this one and the official approach to them".

“There is always the concern to make sure that freedom of speech and incitement to violence do not contradict each other. The principles remain the same but the UK position with India on countering terrorism is stronger than ever”.

Asquith recalled Modi’s phrase of ‘living bridge’ to describe the 1.5 million Indian diaspora, and said the bilateral relationship was more than trade or visas.

Calling convergences between the two countries ‘touch points’, Asquith said a lot was happening at various levels than was known or acknowledged in official discourse.

According to him, criticism of Britain’s student visa system had more to with negative perceptions than reality.