[🇮🇳] Indian External Affairs

[Old School]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi often draws crowds of supporters from the Indian diaspora on his foreign visits. But back home, his administration has been revoking visas and residency permits of foreign nationals of Indian origin as well as spouses of Indian citizens. For those denied access or kicked out of India, the experience can be traumatic.
They are part of the Modi administration’s broader crackdown on Indian citizenship laws, which have snowballed in various forms. But the intent of the “ever-expanding arsenal of laws and policies” is singular: to “target and punish dissenting voices”, said Amnesty International in a statement noting the international human rights contraventions that have increased during Modi’s 10 years in power.

With the upcoming 2024 elections widely predicted to propel Modi into his next decade in power, experts warn that India’s secular democracy is being reshaped as a Hindu-first majoritarian nation intolerant to dissent and minority religious communities.

Citizenship lies at the heart of the reshaping, with the government pushing through laws and regulations on myriad fronts, upending lives and plunging dissenters into an omnipresent state of dread.

 

[Old School]

A high-altitude tunnel is latest flashpoint in India-China border tensions​

Construction crews work at the Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh in 2021.
EyePress News/Reuters

A tunnel constructed high in the mountains of northeastern India has become the latest flashpoint in a simmering border dispute between New Delhi and Beijing.

The Sela Tunnel, inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, has been hailed in India as a feat of engineering – blasted through the Himalayas at an elevation of some 13,000 feet (3,900 meters) – and a boon for the military, enabling faster, “all-weather” access to a tense de facto border with China.

That’s caught the attention of Beijing, whose long-running dispute with New Delhi over their contested 2,100-mile (3,379-kilometer) border has seen the two nuclear-armed powers clash in recent years.

That includes in 2020 when hand-to-hand fighting between the two sides resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers in Aksai Chin-Ladakh in the western stretches of the border.

And, decades ago, the dispute led to war.
Sela Tunnel: A high-altitude tunnel is latest flashpoint in India-China border tensions | CNN

 

[Old School]

India summons German diplomat over ‘blatant interference’​

New Delhi has lodged formal protest with Berlin after comments on the arrest of opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal.
New Delhi on Saturday lodged a strong protest against Berlin over “blatant interference” in India’s internal affairs, delivering a rebuke to a senior German diplomat. The deputy head of the German Embassy, Georg Enzweiler was summoned to the Indian foreign ministry a day after the EU state commented on Thursday’s arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi and a vocal critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Saturday. “India is a vibrant and robust democracy with rule of law. As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter,” it added.

The German Foreign Ministry on Friday said it had taken note of Kejriwal’s arrest and expected that standards relating to “independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles” would be applied to his case. “Mr Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial, this includes [that] he can make use of all available legal avenues, without restrictions,” Berlin asserted.

Reacting to the statement, New Delhi noted that “biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted.”
India summons German diplomat over ‘blatant interference’ — RT India

 

[Old School]

India supports Philippines’ sovereignty, says Jaishankar, sparking response from China​

External Affairs Minister’s Manila visit comes as tensions between the Philippines and Chinese navies rose to new levels; China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says maritime disputes are issues between countries concerned and third parties have no right to interfere
India supports the Philippines’ sovereignty, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Manila, in comments that sparked a response from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called on “third countries” not to “interfere”. Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Manila on Tuesday, where he met Philippines President Bongbong Marcos and Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo, is part of a three-nation five-day tour to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar: India supports Philippines in upholding its national sovereignty - The Hindu

 

[Old School]

[H1]India rescuing citizens forced into cyber fraud schemes in Cambodia[/H1]

The Indian government said it was rescuing its citizens who were lured into employment in Cambodia and were being forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes.
The Indian embassy in Cambodia is working with Cambodian authorities and has rescued and repatriated about 250 Indians, including 75 in the last three months, India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Saturday.

Jaiswal was responding to Indian news reports that stated more than 5,000 Indians are trapped in Cambodia and being forced to carry out cyber frauds on people back home.
"We are also working with Cambodian authorities and with agencies in India to crack down on those responsible for these fraudulent schemes," Jaiswal said.
The Indian government and its embassy in Cambodia have issued several advisories informing them about such scams, the spokesperson said.
The Cambodian embassy in India did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Sunday.

 

[Old School]

[H1]U.S. NSA Sullivan postpones visit to India again[/H1]
Sullivan was to be accompanied by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and discuss iCET, Indo-Pacific cooperation and Quad Summit delays; for the second time this year, he has cancelled New Delhi trip.
As tensions between Israel and Iran grew, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cancelled his plan to travel to Delhi for talks, officials announced on Tuesday.

Mr. Sullivan, who was going to lead a delegation to hold an annual review of the India-U.S. initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), was also expected to be accompanied by the U.S.'s second-most senior diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, and was due to land in Delhi on Tuesday ahead of talks with NSA Ajit Doval and other officials including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday. The talks were expected to closely follow Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra's visit to Washington on April 10-12, and would have been the highest level visit since the U.S. filed charges in the alleged assassination plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun last November, which implicate Indian security officials.


As Iran-Israel ramp up tensions, U.S. NSA Sullivan puts off visit to India - The Hindu