''Far Greater Cooperation Between India, UK On The Issue Of Fugitives'' Says YK Sinha

India's outgoing high commissioner to the UK, YK Sinha, believes he is concluding his tenure at a time when there is far greater cooperation between both governments on contentious issues such as fugitives from the Indian justice system finding refuge in Britain.

As the senior diplomat retires from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) this month after 37 years, he said it was one of the areas that had registered marked improvement to ensure that people do not misuse the freedoms offered in the UK to escape justice in India.

"On issues such as fugitives from justice, I think there is a greater appreciation of our position on this and certainly there is much greater cooperation between our agencies and governments in trying to ensure that people don't misuse the freedom and legal systems to escape justice back home," he said in an interview.

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Some of the high-profile cases of fugitives from justice coincided with his 23-month posting at the Indian High Commission in London, including the extradition trial of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya who is wanted in India on fraud and money laundering charges amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore.

"We can judge the level of cooperation based on what the outcome is. But the kind of cooperation we have now perhaps didn't exist earlier or was much less," Sinha said.

He also highlighted terrorism as a significant area of closer engagement and a realisation in Britain of the dangers posed by India's immediate neighbourhood of Pakistan. He said, "In our neighbourhood, there is considerable instability. There is extremism, there is terrorism and that affects not just India but the entire world."

"After all, the UK has suffered last year from terrorist attacks, some of the provenance of which may be from our neighbourhood. So, it is important that we cooperate, and the good thing is that we are already doing so, having realised the importance of jointly combating this menace." 

On the persistent sticking point of UK visa offer for Indians in line with other countries, the high commissioner said the debate must be put in "perspective" as only one aspect of a much broader relationship. 

The UK government often links the issue of a stricter visa regime for Indian students and professionals with the issue of "overstayers". The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has recently highlighted that "India accounts for the largest number of individuals in the UK illegally".

"To build a really solid partnership post-Brexit, this (issue of visas) needs to be looked at in totality. But if it is linked with other issues then it has its own problems. It is a legitimate exercise to reduce illegal immigration, it needs to be tackled, but to link it to visas is myopic and self-defeating policy," Sinha said.

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"I am not disputing the fact that there are overstayers, but solid evidence is needed to back it up," he said.

Among some of the inexplicable aspects of the consular relationship is the fact that while India has an agreement with 19 European Union (EU) countries for visa-free travel of diplomatic passport-holders, Britain continues to hold out from signing a similar deal.