Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 24
Expanding the US-India cooperation on security, defence and counter-terrorism and matters like human rights, Covid-19 and climate change will be the agenda of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his maiden visit to India starting Tuesday, said two senior State Department officials.
Human rights is a regular talking point in meetings of Indian diplomats with their European and American counterparts, but the Biden administration will be attempting to draw a distinction between its responses and those by the Trump administration. “We will raise it and continue that conversation because we firmly believe that we have more values in common on those fronts,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson.
July 25, 2021
WASHINGTON: The US has said it is against the use of spying technology on civil society, regime critics and journalists, even as it maintained that it has no particular insight into the Pegasus issue in India.
“The whole notion of using this type of technology against civil society, or regime critics, or journalists, or anybody like that through extrajudicial means is always concerning,” United States’s Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson told reporters during a news conference in Washington on Friday.
Last Sunday, an international media consortium reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three Opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the Pegasus spyware. The government has been denying all Opposition allegations over the matter.
›Antony Blinken s first India visit: Afghanistan, Quad, COVID-19 and climate change to be major topics of discussion
Antony Blinken s first India visit: Afghanistan, Quad, COVID-19 and climate change to be major topics of discussion
SECTIONS
Antony Blinken s first India visit: Afghanistan, Quad, COVID-19 and climate change to be major topics of discussionPTI
Last Updated: Jul 24, 2021, 10:20 AM IST
Share
Synopsis
During his stay in the country, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will also meet Bilinken.
Reuters
Blinken is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi late on July 27. He is scheduled to attend a full slate of engagements on July 28.
Human rights blip on deepening Indo-US ties during Blinken visit tribuneindia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneindia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
India and Pakistan need to work with each other to resolve their bilateral issues, the United States has said, observing that it had always encouraged the two neighbours to build a more stable relationship going forward. With regard to India-Pakistan, I would just note that we strongly believe that India and Pakistan s issues are ones for them to work out between themselves, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson told reporters during a conference call here. We are pleased to see that the ceasefire that went into place earlier this year is - has remained intact, and we certainly always encourage them to continue their efforts to find ways to build a more stable relationship going forward, Thompson said in response to a question.