Rishi Sunak deemed to lack leadership qualities for not demanding the immediate release of jailed British man Jagtar Singh Johal

By News Desk

Almost six years after his arrest, the detention of Dumbarton man Jagtar Singh Johal is a case that still remains unsolved.

At the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was seen happily greeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They sat for a meeting together, during which, Sunak discussed the matter of the Scottish Sikh campaigner and blogger who is currently imprisoned and facing death penalty in the country.

Following the meeting, Sunak said: “Yes, I was able to, alongside a range of other consular issues that Prime Minister Modi and I discussed in the time that we had.

“And also the Foreign Office are continuing to provide support to Mr Johal’s family and will continue to do so.”

Johal, who went to Punjab in 2017 for his wedding, was allegedly arrested by Indian authorities and forced into an unmarked car. He has claimed that he was then tortured and now faces death penalty over his campaigning and activism for Sikh human rights.

However, Sunak has now been branded as a ‘weak’ leader for not demanding that Johal be released immediately.

Dabinderjit Singh, the Principal Adviser to the Sikh Federation (UK) said: “Boris Johnson as PM accepted in a letter to the Sikh Federation (UK) in July 2022 that Jagtar has been in arbitrary detention in an Indian jail since 4 November 2017. It is UK Government policy to call for the immediate release of any British citizen held abroad in arbitrary detention.

“Rishi Sunak since taking over as PM from Liz Truss in October 2022 has unacceptably been very reluctant to personally take up the case of Jagtar with India.

“He has however been forced today through pressure from UK MPs to raise the case of Jagtar Singh Johal with Narendra Modi. He has however demonstrated his weakness and lack of leadership by shamefully failing to stand up for the rights of a British citizen and calling for Jagtar’s immediate release.

“Rishi Sunak and his Foreign Office Ministers are now talking utter nonsense in terms of Jagtar’s best interests and justice. They appear scared and clueless on how best to apply diplomatic pressure on India and are leaving it to the corrupt Indian judicial system.”

Before his trip to India for the summit, a cross party group of 70 MPs urged Sunak to intervene by collectively signing a letter asking him to call on Modi to “immediately release” Johal.

The letter was in response to BBC reports indicating that Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had written to Johal’s brother in July, conveying the government’s decision not to apply pressure on India regarding the imprisonment.

During his flight from London to the Indian capital, Sunak informed reporters that he aimed to ensure that justice is appropriately served for the detained Scottish man.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, said: “Theresa May ‘raised’ Jagtar’s case. So did Boris Johnson. But six years after his abduction and torture he’s still in prison, facing a possible death sentence for something he didn’t do.

“The Government often says ministers have raised the case a hundred times as if that makes their failure to seek the release of an arbitrarily detained British national any less shameful. What did Rishi Sunak say to Narendra Modi about the case and how did he respond? Without answers to these questions, the Prime Minister’s talk is meaningless.”