We need action, not words, Mr David Cameron

British prime minister David Cameron made all the right noises during his visit to this country. He has castigated Pakistan for its continued support of terror, he has touched upon the common cultural bonds between India and Britain and he oversaw the signing of a defence deal worth £700 million between British Aerospace and HAL.

A good day’s work at the office, one might say. In Delhi, in the second leg of his tour, he assured his hosts that the new immigration policy would not prevent the “brightest and best” Indians from coming to his country.

Britain is looking to enhance its ties with India and take them beyond the old colonial links. In today’s world, economic issues take pride of place over old world concerns on diplomacy. However, it’s quite clear that on both Pakistan and immigration, India should evaluate the British position not from what is said, but what is done.

Cameron remarked in Bangalore that, “We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world.”

The fact of the matter is that Pakistan would not have been able to export terror anywhere had it not been for the support — tacit or otherwise — it has received from the UK and the US.

Britain still has a military presence in Afghanistan from where it wants to withdraw. This is what makes Pakistan a strategic ally. The US and Britain want to believe that there is a “moderate” Taliban one could talk to, but recent WikiLeak  documents show that the Pakistanis have been in cahoots with the Taliban to attack US forces and Indian civilians in Afghanistan. Cameron needs to lean harder on Pakistan to become “moderate” before we talk of a moderate Taliban.

Even on immigration, the British need to look at moving away from absolute caps on numbers. It is all right for a country to regulate what kind of people it wants, but once that policy is in place, it makes no sense to impose quotas and limits unless one accepts that the idea is to keep certain types of skin colour out. It’s not done.