TOI Correspondent from London: The Metropolitan Police here is investigating a macabre throat-slitting gesture made on Friday night by Colonel Taimur, army and air adviser at the Pakistan high commission in London, which was directed towards Indian-origin protesters angry about the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Indian diaspora had gone to the Pakistan high commission to protest against who they believe are the perpetrators of the April 22 terror attack. Armed with placards saying “I am Hindu”, they were shocked to find the high commission had organised a counter protest and plugged in a massive loudspeaker to blast out songs to drown out their chants.
Col Taimur stood on the balcony of the mission building, draped with posters claiming human rights violations in J&K, waving a placard of Abhinandan Varthaman with the caption “the chai is fantastic” as he smiled and drew his finger across his throat and directed the gesture, pointedly, at the Indian side. The video has gone viral.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of this video and are now investigating. Officers are also in touch with the relevant govt department to determine what representations need to be made to the high commission.”
As Pakistani songs blasted out, the Pakistani protesters danced and shouted obscenities at the Indian protesters, abusing Hindu gods and PM Narendra Modi, holding placards accusing India of “water terrorism”.
They had a mic, the Indians did not. There were just yards between the two groups, with police in between, as they hurled abuse at each other.
“There is no empathy or shame in the Pakistanis. They are partying over a terror attack,” said Amaana Begum (38), an Indian Muslim from Jaipur.
“We came here to mourn the loss of life and here they are blasting out music and making gestures, and we just wanted to peacefully protest,” said Nandini Singh. “It is as if they are celebrating the loss of life.”
When TOI confronted the Pakistani protesters, a man named Wahim alleged: “Pahalgam is a false-flag operation. It is a political act by India, nothing else.”
Police swarmed around a group of young Indian-origin delivery drivers protesting. Suddenly, a Gujarati man sprinted off and around 15 police officers chased him down the street. He looked petrified as told he was under arrest for racially abusing a police officer. Next an officer grabbed a second young PIO delivery driver by the scruff of his neck and pulled him into the road and he too was handcuffed. Pakistani media videographed every second. Next, vans of police trained to handle public disorder turned up and all the Indian protesters were told to leave.
One man was arrested on suspicion of affray and a racially aggravated public order offence. He was later released without further action, a Met Police spokesperson said. The other man was handcuffed, detained, and released, but not arrested.
Indian protesters said their complaints to police about the other side fell on deaf ears. “The police were much stricter on us and allowed the other side to do what they wanted,” one said. “The men who were handcuffed were provoked by what the Pakistanis were saying.”
