With UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visiting New Delhi next week to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is keen to ensure that terrorism emanating from the territories of Pakistan and Afghanistan is high on the agenda during the meeting between the two leaders.
“Though Johnson will be focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during the interactions, the Indian leadership will expect the visiting leader to train sights on Pakistan based terrorism, the Afghanistan situation and the Indo-Pacific, with China’s belligerence in focus,” an official familiar with the preparations ahead of the UK PM’s visit told The Daily Guardian. Johnson is likely to visit India on 22 April.
India has been closely monitoring the reactions of various world leaders including Johnson to Shehbaz Sharif taking over as the new Pakistan Prime Minister. While congratulating Shehbaz Sharif, Boris Johnson shared his aspirations for a future working relationship with his Pakistani counterpart. “The UK and Pakistan have a longstanding relationship and our people share deep ties. I look forward to working together on areas of shared interest,” Boris had said. “Johnson’s reaction has disappointed India somewhat as there was no mention of UK’s concerns on security of the region due to growing terror activities,” says a highly-placed official.
“What India, in fact, wants is also a message from Johnson and other world leaders to Pakistan on the issue of terrorism, like what figured in the joint statement of the India-US 2+2 Dialogue,” said a diplomat. In that statement, India and the US asked Pakistan to take action against terrorists on its territory.
Even as Shehbaz Sharif started his innings as Pakistan PM with a rant on Kashmir in a bid to internationalise the issue, India has given impetus to its diplomatic campaign to draw the global community’s focus on terrorism being sponsored by Islamabad based state actors, officials said. India wants Pakistan to be upbraided on various international forums. “In this context, PM Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar are set to utilize the visit of Johnson to highlight their concerns over the growing terrorism from territories under Pakistan’s control, and also from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan,” a diplomat told this newspaper.
Sources said that the officials working on the joint statement to be released after the talks between PM Johnson and PM Modi have held several rounds of meetings during which the Pakistan angle was discussed. A strongly-worded message for Pakistan is sought to be included in the statement, for which consultations with the UK diplomats are underway. Secondly, the Indo-Pacific issues focusing on challenges resulting from Chinese aggression will also be discussed prominently.
Sources say that the UK’s premier will raise issues such as India buying Russian oil and India’s recent voting patterns at the UN. Progress on India-UK FTA will also come up for discussion. On Russia, India has already made its stand clear and Johnson is going to be reminded of the same. PM Modi during the telephonic talks with PM Johnson in the past had underlined the need for peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis. Recently, Jaishankar’s response on oil purchase was a solid message for the European countries including the UK. “So, Johnson is well aware of what the Indian side’s response on the Ukraine situation is going to be like,” says an official. Johnson is expected to be in Delhi on 22 April when official engagements will take place apart from the ceremonial reception to be given to him.