Pakistan sponsored groups and some pro-Pakistan politicians in Britain have planned another anti-India protest on the occasion of Diwali. As per reports, the protest called by pro-Pakistan groups is to start from the Richmond Terrace near Downing Street and converge outside the Indian High Commission building on October 27, on the occasion of Diwali.
Pakistan supported groups and Mosques in the Burton area have reportedly hired coaches to carry people to the march venue for free. As an intended offence against the Diwali celebrating Hindus, they have planned to call October 27 as the ‘Black Day for Kashmiris’.
The protest march is expected to gather 5000-10000 people outside the Indian High Commission on the occasion of Diwali where members of the Indian diaspora will be gathered to celebrate the festival of lights.
Indian-origin MP of brent and Harrow Navin Shah had written to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London about the planned protest, expressing his concerns about another potentially violent situation. It is notable here that the Indian High Commission has been attacked multiple times since August by pro-Pakistan groups masquerading as Kashmir sympathisers and marching against India’s decision to abrogate Article 370.
Read: London: Pakistani mob led by British Labour MP attacks Indian High Commission, smash windows
In his strongly-worded reply, Mayor Sadiq Khan, in a letter dated 18 October, has stated that he condemns the protest on the occasion of Diwali and has stated that such protests will ‘deepen the divisions’ in the UK capital. Khan has written that he appeals to the organisers to cancel the rally.
“I absolutely condemn the plans for a protest march to take place on the auspicious day of Diwali, in the vicinity of the Indian High Commission in London,” Khan has written.
Khan has stated that the City Hall will work with the Metropolitan Police to ensure that ‘a robust plan’ is in place to prevent any incidents of violence and aggression. He has also mentioned the violence during such protests on the Indian Independence Day and subsequent occasions. Khan has stated that such violent behaviour goes against everything they stand for in London and has no place in the city.
Khan, however, has expressed his inability to ban the protest. He has stated that only the Home Secretary can ban the protest and he has forwarded a copy of the letter to Home Secretary Preeti Patel and Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
Pakistan has been organising many such protests in the UK and USA. Pakistani politicians have been travelling to London to lead the protests. On the occasion of the Indian Independence Day on August 15, a large mob of such protestors had attacked the families of Indians gathered at the Indian High Commission to celebrate.
For the Diwali protest, Pakistan’s puppet ‘president’ for PoK, Sardar Masood Khan and the puppet prime minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan are travelling to London to lead the mobs.
It is notable here that recently, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the UK had faced severe criticism from the Indian government and the Indian diaspora in the UK for unanimously passing a ‘Kashmir resolution’ parroting Pakistan’s lines over the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian MEA and the High Commission had condemned the resolution and had stated that the Labour party is only pandering vote bank interests by taking a pro-Pakistan stand to woo the British-Pakistani voters.
Over 100 British Indian organisations had recently issued a strong letter condemning Corbyn’s attempts to introduce divisive politics to create fissures in the British electorate and attempts to interfere in Kashmir region. Several Labour MPs and politicians have also been participating in the anti-India protests.