Hit Jobs On Foreign Soil Not India’s Policy: Jaishankar

Relevance: GS2 - Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

(Source: The Hindu, 09/28/2023)

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Why in the news?

• Recently, Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar claimed at a Council on Foreign Relations event that it was not Indian policy to conduct hit jobs on foreign soil and denied any involvement in the death of the Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
• He also discussed the India-U.S.A. relationship and military tensions with China at the event.

What did the Foreign Affairs Minister say at the Council on Foreign Relations event?

On the Canadian allegations

• He rejected Canada’s allegations about India’s involvement in the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
• It was not the policy of the Indian Government to conduct such attacks.
• He also claimed that the Indian government was open to looking at any evidence that Canada could provide in support of its allegations.

On organized crime

• According to the Minister, Canada had a “very permissive” environment concerning secessionist activity.
• This meant that there is a large amount of organized crime relating to secessionist forces including India-related secessionist movements like the Khalistani movement.
• India had provided information about the leadership of the organized crime groups in Canada and had made several extradition requests.
• He also raised India’s concerns such as
  • Threats and attacks faced by its diplomats and consulates
  • Interference in India’s politics

On U.S.A

• He highlighted the need to adopt a positive approach in which the India-U.S. relationship is viewed in terms of its possibilities rather than its limits.
• The bilateral relationship between the two countries had enormous possibilities in which convergences exceeded divergences.
• The evolving relationship covers sectors such as technology, people-to-people ties, security, economics, and politics, with technology, defense, and politics identified as the top priorities.
  • The technology partnership could also improve synergies in the defense and security sectors.
• He emphasized India’s role as a vital link between the U.S.A. and the Global South and the readjusted approach in which fluid partnerships like QUAD (which has two treaty allies and a non-treaty ally as its members.

On China

• He claimed that India-China relations have been in a very abnormal state since the border clashes in 2020.
• The India-China problem was not a short or medium-term issue but a long-term issue as it was not possible to have normal bilateral relations with another country that had amassed a large amount of troops at the border in violation of several border agreements.
• He added that the countries’ troops have been trying to disengage and that seven or eight of the ten forward deployments had been resolved.

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FAQs

MCQs

Question: Which of the following principles related to extradition are correctly matched

(a) Reciprocity - Benefits or penalties bestowed by a country on the citizens of another country should be returned to its citizens as well.

(b) Double jeopardy - the act for which the accused is requested to be extradited must be a crime in the territorial state as well.

(c) Double criminality - a person already tried and punished can not be extradited for the same crime.

(d) Specialty - Extraditing states can punish the offender for all crimes considered necessary.