Indian High Commissioner Prevented from Entering Glasgow Gurdwara, UK Foreign Office Informed

On Friday, several individuals prevented the Indian high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, and the Indian consul-general in Edinburgh from entering a Glasgow gurdwara to which they had been invited.

The event looked to be an outgrowth of the continuing dispute between Ottawa and New Delhi over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations of an Indian government role in the execution of Khalistani rebel Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK and the police have both been informed about the incident from last Friday.

The high commission said three individuals, all from outside Scotland, had deliberately disrupted a planned gathering of the two diplomats and the community to talk about issues relating to local Indian expats and consular matters. The statement was released late on Saturday after a video of the incident started going viral online.

The ambassadors almost soon fled when their car was harassed in the parking lot itself.

The high commission stated that "one of the non-local extremist elements attempted to violently force open the HC's car door — a matter that will require appropriate police consideration."

A larger incident was prevented thanks to one of the organizers' fast thinking and physical intervention at the car door.

The incident in Glasgow occurred on the same day that S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, emphasized in Washington the need for the world to avoid normalizing the intimidation that Indian diplomats have experienced in Canada. Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, had earlier encouraged New Delhi and Ottawa to cooperate in order to break the deadlock in their bilateral relations over the Nijjar problem.

Jaishankar asked the world to consider the permissive environment that exists in Canada, allowing separatists like the proponents of Khalistan to develop, as he has been stating in the US over the past few days.

"There is an environment of intimidation and brutality today... Smoke bombs have been hurled at the mission; there has been violence in front of consulates; persons have been singled out and threatened; and there are posters up concerning specific individuals. Do you think this is typical, please?... What would happen if this had happened to any other nation? That is a fair question, in my opinion," Jaishankar remarked.

"Let's avoid making what is occurring in Canada normal. Do you believe that if what is happening in Canada had occurred somewhere else, the world would have handled it with the same calm? Would they have responded thus coolly if it had happened to any other nation? I believe it is important to draw attention to what is occurring there.

At a press conference, Blinken responded to inquiries about his meeting with Jaishankar by saying, "We're quite worried about the claims that have been leveled by Canada, by Prime Minister Trudeau. In addition to engaging with the Indian government and urging them to cooperate with Canada on an investigation, we have been in frequent contact with Canada about that.

In response to Blinken's public reiteration of the US position, Jaishankar reiterated the background and said that the killing shouldn't be viewed in isolation but rather as a component of the tolerant environment that such elements can flourish in in Canada.

Threatening diplomats is unacceptable in my opinion. I've raised the same flag here as I have with Canadians. A democracy exists here. We don't have to study what free speech entails from others. We don't believe that inciting violence is covered by the right to free expression. We view that as a misuse of freedom. It does not serve to defend freedom.