I feel that you are mixing up two entirely different issues.
Army exercises and visits with UK and US are part of China containment strategy and post brexit strategy for UK. respectively.
UK has been trying to leverage its technological and field experience ever since brexit happened. They see India as a huge market and are making in roads in all possible avenues.
Plus we are a much bigger market for the UK so they will try to do everything to woo especially when they are facing economic turmoil at home.With the tempo with which Indian navy has been exercising with foreign navies it was only a matter of time before the same was seen in the army too.
I think you are oversimplifying.
Army exercises -> Cozying-up of India with NATO nations for China containment.
NATO trying to sell us equipment -> Mostly done on off-camera lobbies and military exercises.
But, sole British Army COAS meeting a Corps commander & his local commanders? Surely, COAS won't come to sell us a product, he is not a salesboy. He is not here for a military exercise. Meeting a certain area commander (by visiting that place) instead of our COAS for national matters indicates vested interest in either that area (Kashmir) or forces deployed in that area (White Knight Corps).
Modi on the other hand is meeting and greeting pope like a long lost friend because of the upcoming goa elections and BJP's strategy to push into the south. He has never in the past 7 years claimed to be a Hindu nationalist and barring Ram mandir which was also ruined by him to a great extent done anything overtly beneficial for Hindus.
Plausible explanation. However, Pope has no incentive to meet Modi, as his bad reputation for blocking missionaries and NGOs is related to Christian evangelism. Plus, Goa & South is unlikely to play vote bank politics, and Christian religious minority is not that significant in numbers.
There are no easy answers to these developments... except for that 1 answer which is very hard for you people to digest.
Maybe modi offered the Pope... Help us in taking POK & u will have free hand for evangelical conversion of kashmiri mullahs
(
Arey yaar... yaad aaya abhi... many Christians were also killed & raped by Pashtun invaders in 1947 in mirpur & muzaffarabad... some estimates say hundreds)
Yes, I meant these kind of theories I was avoiding. Too far fetched.