UK government concerned over disruption of Indian diplomat’s visit to Glasgow

LONDON (Reuters) – A British government minister expressed concern on Saturday that a senior Indian diplomat’s visit to a Sikh temple in Glasgow had been disrupted by protesters the previous day.

“The safety of foreign diplomats is of paramount importance and our places of worship in the United Kingdom must be open to all,” Foreign Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement. mail on social networks.

Long-standing tensions between some Sikhs and the Indian government have increased since Canada earlier this month linked the murder from a Sikh separatist advocate near Vancouver to Indian government agents, allegations that India has called “absurd.”

The Indian embassy in Britain issued a statement on Saturday said his top diplomat, Vikram Doraiswami, and another senior official were scheduled to meet community leaders at a Sikh gurdwara, or place of worship, on Friday in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.

He said three protesters, whom he described as “non-local extremist elements,” threatened his diplomats and one attempted to open the door of Doraiswami’s car, causing officials to abandon the visit.

A Police Scotland spokesman said officers had been called to reports of a disturbance near the gurdwara, but there were no injuries. Investigations were ongoing and no arrests had been made, police added.

“Glasgow Gurdwara strongly condemns this disorderly behavior to disrupt the peaceful proceedings of a Sikh place of worship,” the religious body said in a media statement.

Canada and Britain are home to the largest populations of Sikhs outside India, after some Sikhs emigrated to flee violence in the 1970s and 1980s in the Indian state of Punjab, which killed thousands of people.

India complained to Britain earlier this year after Sikh separatists removed the Indian flag from the country’s high commission in central London and order better security.

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