Blinken's Delhi visit: US to raise Pegasus row, issues of human rights, religious freedom

Blinken is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi late on July 27

With the United States lawmakers expressing concerns over the state of freedom of expression and religion in India, President Joe Biden’s administration is now planning to take up the issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi.

Biden’s Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will raise the issues of human rights and democracy with the Modi Government during his visit to New Delhi next week, the US officials told journalists in Washington D.C. on Friday. He may also touch upon the controversy over recent media reports on use of Pegasus spyware for snooping on phones of political leaders, civil society activists and journalists in several nations, including India.

Three US lawmakers – Senator Ed Markey, Representative Marie Newman and Representative Andy Levin – of late took part in a panel discussion and expressed concern over the crackdown on free speech and discrimination against religious minorities in India. Besides, another group of over 20 members of the Senate and House of Representatives recently wrote to the US Secretary of State, urging him to appoint a special envoy to combat the alleged rise in attacks against Muslims in different parts of the world, including India, China and Myanmar.

Blinken will arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday for a two-day visit – his first after the Biden Administration took over on January 20 last. He will have meetings with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Prime Minister’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday.

Read more: Antony Blinken to pay first trip to India amid Afghanistan withdrawal

He is also likely to call on Modi and discuss with him Biden’s plan to hold an in-person summit of the Quad – a bloc comprising US, India, Japan and Australia – in Washington D.C. later this year.

The “shared democratic values” of the US and India will be on the agenda of discussion when Blinken will meet Jaishankar and call on Modi. This was confirmed by Dean Thompson, the acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs of the US State Department, on Friday.

“And with respect to the human rights and democracy question, yes, you’re right; I will tell you that we will raise it, yes, you’re right; I will tell you that we will raise it,” said Thompson, adding: “And we will continue that conversation, because we firmly believe that we have more values in common on those fronts than we don’t.”

He was replying to a journalist, who asked him if the US Secretary of State will raise with his counterpart in New Delhi the issues related to human rights and religious freedom in India, in view of the laws enacted and actions initiated by the Modi Government allegedly targeting the Muslims.

“Obviously, we – 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,” he said, in response to another question on the use of Pegasus spyware developed by the NSO Group of Israel for snooping on phones of political leaders, journalists and activists in India. “I know this is a broader issue, but I will say that we’ve been, I think, quite vocal about trying to find ways for companies to be able to ensure that their technology is not used in these types of ways. And we will certainly continue to press – to press those issues.”

The US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin had visited New Delhi on March 20 and he too had raised during his meetings with his counterpart Rajnath Singh the issue of democracy and human rights in India. Austin was the first top official of the Biden Administration to visit New Delhi. He also had a meeting with Jaishankar.

“And we believe India is going to be a really important part of continuing those conversations and building strong efforts on those fronts (democracy, right of free speech and religion and human rights) in partnership as we go forward,” Thompson said during the briefing on Blinken’s forthcoming visit to New Delhi.

During his first phone call with Modi after taking over the Oval Office in White House, Biden, himself, had “underscored his desire to defend democratic institutions and norms around the world” and noted that “a shared commitment to democratic values” was “the bedrock for the US-India relationship”.

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