NEW DELHI, Mar 22: The British High Commission on March 22 refused to comment after the law enforcement agencies removed the barricades around the British High Commission in Chanakyapur and the residence of the U.K. High Commissioner Alex Ellis. The development came two days after the Indian High Commission in London was vandalised by pro-Khalistan protesters who took down the national tricolour demanding an end to the police action against fugitive Amritpal Singh in Punjab.
“We do not comment on security matters,” said a British High Commission spokesperson after the barricades were removed yesterday. Sources in the mission said that the barrricades were removed by the Delhi Police yesterday without giving any reason. On Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs had summoneed the seniormost British diplomat and registered a strong protest against the incident in London. British High Commissioner Alex Ellis is currently out of country.
The formal protest was followed by a large anti-U.K. demonstration which was organised outside the U.K. High Commission in Chanakyapuri on Monday. The High Commission was surrounded by the Sikh protesters who demanded that the U.K. authorities should increase security to the Indian mission and other India-related addresses in the U.K. The Ministry of External Affairs has refused to comment to the development, saying, “security issues are not under the Ministry’s purview”.
The removal of the barricades from outside the U.K.’s mission and residence of its top diplomat in New Delhi’s Rajaji Marg revived the memories of the “Khobragade incident” of December 2013 when the barricades around the Embassy of the United States were removed after Indian Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade was subjected to ill treatment by the U.S. authorities for alleged violation of labour rules in her residence.