British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s two-day hurricane visit to India came to an end Friday with a packed set of deliverables as he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an in-person summit for the first time.

On being asked what the UK government is doing towards India’s concerns on growing threats from Khalistani organisations and other terrorist elements, Johnson said that the UK has a “very strong view” on extremist groups.

“We have a very strong view in the UK. We don’t tolerate extremist groups setting up in the UK with a view to threatening other countries, threatening India, but what we’ve done particularly as a result of this visit is set up an anti-extremism task force to see what more we can do to help India in that aspect,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on this issue, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said Prime Minister Modi did raise the Khalistan issue with Johnson and spoke about India’s policy of “zero tolerance” towards such issues.

Bilateral Relationship

Giving a push to the two countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was announced at their last virtual summit in May 2021, Modi and Johnson decided to expand India-UK defence collaboration during their meeting Friday, including joint production and co-development of fighter jets and next-generation jet engine technology.

The two sides have also instructed their respective officials to conclude the negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) by “Diwali”, while tariff issues continue to pose challenges.