The terror attack on London Bridge claimed seven lives and left another 48 wounded. London Mayor Sadiq Khan, while expressing grief over the incident had said that the terrorists “would not win” and added that, in future, there would be number of police force around hence there is no reason to be in a panic.
US President Donald Trump interpreted this message of Sadiq Khan as a message to the city that it should not be alarmed by terrorism.
Reactions of Sadiq Khan
The Guardian reports that these exchange of words has led to a war of words on the London Bridge terror attack between Sadiq Khan and Donald Trump.
The Mayor of London has requested the British government to cancel a planned state visit by the President of the United States.
While interacting with a media channel, Sadiq Khan has said that Trump had misconceptions about plenty of things and his state visit should be postponed since his policies appear to be at a variance to those of Britain.
The reactions of Donald Trump appeared to be directed against the acting US ambassador to Britain, Lewis Lukens, who had tweeted in favor of the mayor of London and had commended his strong leadership.
The accepted norms of diplomacy demand that leaders express solidarity with each other but, in this case, a section of supporters of Trump accused Lukens of disloyalty.
Some of them went to the extent of demanding that the acting ambassador be replaced because he had offered support to a foreign official who is Muslim instead of being with the president.
Incidentally, the President already has another name in mind to take over as the ambassador to the UK.
Reactions of the White House
The initial reaction of President Donald Trump can be considered to be a case of a misunderstanding of what the mayor had said and White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders has denied that the criticism heaped by the President was because on Sadiq Khan was because he was a Muslim.
Prime Minister Theresa May did not wish to get drawn into the controversy and while praising Sadiq Khan for the response to the attack on London Bridge shied away from any comment on the intervention of the US President.
It may be recalled that the visit of Donald Trump to Britain is an issue that the people of Britain appear to be sore about.
After the tour was announced in the month of January, an online petition has been signed by millions of individuals. Their demand is that the visit should be canceled till such time the proposed travel ban is withdrawn. The US travel ban applies to travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries.
The threat of terrorism haunts every nation, and each of them has evolved its own methods to counter such threats because no one would want to see terrorist get the upper hand. In order to achieve this objective, nations must sink their differences and work as one since they are fighting for a common cause.
