India Dismisses British Media Reports of Halting UK Trade Talks On Sikh Extremists

Rejecting reports on reports that India-UK trade talks have been stalled, the next round of official negotiations is likely to take place from April 24 in London

The central government on Monday dismissed reports that India-UK trade talks have been stalled over the recent attacks involving pro-Khalistan groups in London, as reported by the PTI. British media reported that New Delhi has stalled negotiations with the UK over a free trade agreement (FTA) as it wants tougher action against these groups behind the attack on the Indian High Commission in London last month. However, the Indian authorities have denied such claims.

"The report is baseless," an Indian government source said in New Delhi. The next round of official negotiations is likely to take place from April 24 in London, the source added.

According to the report, 'The Times' newspaper referenced senior British government sources to claim that the Indian government has “disengaged” from trade talks, which opened in January last year, and made it clear that there would be no progress without a public condemnation of the pro-Khalistan extremist groups behind the pulling down of the Tricolour at India House in London and injuring two officials on March 19.

While the UK government has since condemned the attack and promised a security review at the diplomatic mission, the Indian authorities reportedly want the action to go further to publicly condemn the separatist extremists. "India has said they don’t want to speak about trade, they don’t want to do trade negotiations because they think it’s part of a wider problem of us not taking the attack against the Indian High Commission and the wider Sikh separatist movement seriously," the newspaper quoted a UK government source as saying.

"Indians don’t want to talk about trade until they get a very public demonstration of condemnation of Khalistan extremism in the UK. I wouldn’t underestimate the strength of feeling on this. They're expecting the government to say something on Sikh extremism before they come back to the table seriously," the source said.

According to official UK government statistics, the India-UK bilateral trading relationship was worth 34 billion pounds in 2022 – growing by 10 billion pounds in one year. These statistics are expected to be dramatically enhanced with a successful FTA.