According to ISNA, following the end of widespread tensions between India and Pakistan, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is the highest-ranking Western official to visit New Delhi and Islamabad since their peace agreement.
“We want the situation to be maintained but of course we recognize the fragility, particularly in the context of terrorism, terrorism designed to destabilize India,” the British Foreign Secretary said in an interview with Reuters at the British High Commission in New Delhi. He added: “We look forward to continuing to work with our Indian partners on counter-terrorism measures.”
Lammy said he had discussed the next steps with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, but did not provide further details.
Last year, India and Britain discussed counter-terrorism financing, law enforcement and judicial cooperation, and intelligence sharing.
The British foreign secretary also stressed: “I have discussed strengthening trade between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies. In addition, I know that the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is very keen to come to India soon to sign the free trade agreement. There is much that our two nations can continue to do together.”
In the late 1980s, Margaret Thatcher visited Pakistan and met with Afghan mujahideen who had fled to Pakistan due to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In that meeting, he promised to help the Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Union, thus smothering the seeds of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Now that Britain is seeking cooperation with India in the fight against terrorism that it itself founded, we must look with skepticism at the true intentions behind this cooperation. India’s efforts in supporting global Zionism during the Narendra Modi era also add to the complexity of the intentions of this cooperation.
