New Delhi, Mar 18 (UNI) When Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of “anti-India activities” during his meeting with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, the reference was to the so-called Khalistan "referendum" that had taken place in Auckland's Aotea Square on November 17 last year.
PM Modi, while noting both countries' cooperation against "terrorists, separatists and radical elements", said “In this context, we have shared our concerns about anti-India activities by some illegal elements in New Zealand. We are confident that we will continue to receive the support of the
New Zealand government in taking action against these illegal elements.”
The issue had been raised earlier by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in November last year during his meeting with New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters in Australia on November 6, on the sidelines of the Raisina Down Under conference in Canberra.
The Auckland event was organised by US-based Sikhs for Justice, which is banned in India, and has held similar events in cities in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The next such "referendum" is to be held in Los Angeles on March 23, 2025.
Later speaking to the accompanying New Zealand media, PM Luxon said on Monday there was "no suggestion the Khalistan movement had broken any laws".
"We respect India's sovereignty, but we also have very strong free speech laws," he said.
"In a democracy, we expect people to be able to exercise free speech."
PM Luxon said he had articulated that position both publicly and privately.
Later talking to RNZ, Luxon said he "completely" trusted the police to handle any illegal activities by people in support of the Khalistan movement in New Zealand.
"It's you know, two countries that have, you know, I'm sure that we won't agree on everything, you know, as any two democracies in the world don't either. But the point is that we have a lot more and a huge amount of work ahead of us to actually deepen up and thicken up this relationship and, You know, let's be clear - it should be much bigger and much wider and much deeper. There's a lot more where we have converging interests.
"And so it wasn't a difficult conversation. It was one where we just expressed - he shared his broad assessment of the Khalistan risk that they see around the world, and I listened to that, but I also expressed our view about how we think about those issues in New Zealand."
He said PM Modi did not specifically ask New Zealand to clamp down on the Khalistan movement here.
"No - he shared this broad assessment of, from an Indian perspective, about… what they see in the Khalistan separatist movement.
"But I just would say to you in the context of our full conversation, this was a very small part of the conversation. We spent a lot more time talking about how New Zealand sports services can actually help India get gear up for an Olympics in 2036. And, they were very impressed by our efforts around sports and we spent a lot of time talking about that rather than these issues."
PM Luxon said he didn’t see this as being a sticking point in the relationship.
On Monday, both sides announced launching of negotiations on a free trade agreement, that New Zealand is banking on.
In the evening, along with PM Modi, PM Luxon visited the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj and paid obeisance there.
In a post, the New Zealand PM said: “Together, Prime Minister
@narendramodi and I visited Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, a place of profound faith and history.
“The Sikh community’s unwavering commitment to service and humanity is truly admirable across the world.”
He also visited the Akshardham Temple.
“The Hindu community in New Zealand has made a large contribution to our country.
“Today in Delhi, I paid my respects at a place sacred to many Kiwi-Hindus – the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple.”
The Kiwi-Indian community comprises six percent of the population in New Zealand, and PM Luxon brought along with him some eminent members of the community.
UNI RN