Tag: diplomatic statement

Terrorists found ‘safe haven’ in Canada, we support India’s ‘strong’ response: Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said that he was “not surprised” with Trudeau’s “outrageous and unsubstantiated” allegations linking India’s role behind Nijjar’s killing.

Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India Ali Sabry

Sri Lanka has come out in support of India amid the latter’s ongoing row with Canada, saying that terrorists have found “safe haven” in Ottawa and that Trudeau made “outrageous” allegations about India’s role without providing any solid evidence.

“Some of the terrorists have found safe haven in Canada. The Canadian PM has this way of just coming out with some outrageous allegations without any supporting proof. The same thing they did for Sri Lanka, a terrible, total lie about saying that Sri Lanka had a genocide. Everybody knows there was no genocide in our country,” said the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister.

He also said that Trudeau’s ‘genocide’ comment on Sri Lanka has negatively affected the relations between the two countries and asked the Canadian PM to refrain from interfering in the matters of a sovereign country.

“I don’t think anyone should poke their nose into other countries and tell as to how we should govern our country. We love our country more than anyone else. That’s why we are in our country… We have to look after our region. We need to work together. That’s how we can create a peaceful environment. We should not be dictated by anyone else as to how we should conduct our affairs,” he told ANI.

In May, Trudeau announced that the Canadian Parliament has marked May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, which was sharply rebuked by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry for “politically-motivated statement for domestic political consumption”.

We support India on this matter: Sri Lankan envoy

Meanwhile, outgoing Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India came out in India’s defence in the matter, saying that Colombo supports New Delhi’s “firm and direct” response to the Canadian PM’s remarks.

In a press conference, Milinda Moragoda said, “I think India’s response has been inequitable and also firm and direct. And I think as far as we are concerned, we support India on that. Having said that, also, in my lifetime now, I’m 60 years old, 40 years of my life, we have spent facing various forms of terrorism in Sri Lanka. I have lost many friends, and colleagues to terrorism.”

He further said that the people of Sri Lanka have a zero tolerance for terrorist activities as its people have suffered to terrorism for a very long time.

India-Canada row

Tensions between India and Canada reached a boiling point after Trudeau alleged India’s role in the fatal shooting of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep S Nijjar, the chief of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). Nijar, a designated terrorist in India, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.

India angrily rejected the Canadian PM’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to a similar move by Ottawa. India also temporarily suspended visa services for Canadian nationals in view of “security threats” and called for a reduction of Canadian diplomats in New Delhi.

Source: https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/sri-lanka-foreign-minister-ambassador-to-india-supports-india-s-stance-on-diplomatic-row-with-canada-khalistan-hardeep-singh-nijjar-latest-updates-2023-09-26-894718

Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder row: Canada’s defence minister Bill Blair calls India ties ‘important’

Canada’s defence minister Bill Blair. (AFP)

Canada’s defence minister Bill Blair on Sunday termed the relationship with India as “important” and said that his country will continue to pursue partnerships like the Indo-Pacific strategy.

Tensions heightened between the two countries following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia.

India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.

Canada will continue to pursue those partnerships while the investigation into allegations continues, calling the relationship with India “important”, said Blair in an interview aired on Sunday on The West Block by Global News.

“We understand that this can be, and has proven to be, a challenging issue with respect to our relationship with India,” he was quoted as saying by Global News. “But at the same time, we have a responsibility to defend the law, defend our citizens, and at the same time make sure that we conduct a thorough investigation and get to the truth.”

New Delhi expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

In 2020, India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist.

Blair also said that if the allegations are proven true then “there is a very significant concern that Canada will have with respect to the violation of our sovereignty in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/world/hardeep-singh-nijjar-murder-row-canada-s-defence-minister-bill-blair-calls-india-ties-important-11695584523816.html

EAM S Jaishankar highlights ‘double standards’ in global affairs, says ‘dominant countries weaponize…’

Economically dominant countries leverage production capabilities, weaponizing them and creating double standards, says S Jaishankar.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. (PTI)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that economically dominant countries are leveraging production capabilities and those who have institutional influence have weaponized these capabilities. He also cited an example of Covid-19 and stressed that it is still a world of double standards.

Addressing an event ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions and Ideas’ here on Saturday, Jaishankar said, “There is a growing sentiment in the world, and the Global South in a way embodies it. But there’s also political resistance. Those occupying positions of influence are resisting pressure to change.”

“They will mouth the right things, but the reality is still today, it’s a world very much of double standards,” he said as quoted by ANI.

Speaking about the Global South and India’s G20 Presidency, the minister highlighted how India was ‘the voice of the Global South’ and how it steered the global conversation back to global growth and development issues.

“To get the G20, to talk about what the world wanted to talk about, that was the real problem with the G20. Our Prime Minister put it very well, he said first let’s talk to the people who are not going to be on the table. We were the voice of the Global South,” said Jaishankar.

“The Global South is an expression, in a way, of a certain solidarity and generosity and sort of a sharing spirit community. I think if you’re part of the Global South, you know it,” he added.

In his Europe’s mindset comment from last year, where he said that “Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems”, EAM Jaishankar said that “particular statement had a particular context” while also listing five big problems which is troubling the entire world, ANI reported.

 

Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/economically-dominant-countries-weaponize-production-capabilities-jaishankar-11695604171987.html

‘Empire of lies’: Russia’s Lavrov slams West in UN speech

Russia’s foreign minister glosses over Ukraine, accuses Western allies of neo-colonialism at the UN General Assembly.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after addressing the UN General Assembly [Eduardo Munoz/Reuters]
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the West an “empire of lies” and accused it of adopting a neo-colonial mindset in its overtures to the Global South to win backing for Ukraine in the war.

Speaking after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York, where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv as it fights against Russia’s invasion, Lavrov said a “global majority” was being duped by the West.

“The US and its subordinated collective continue to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims,” Lavrov said.

“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centred rules.”

James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic correspondent, said Lavrov’s speech was part of a “tour around the world of Russia’s views” that contained no real mention of Ukraine and few indications of Moscow’s plan one year into the conflict.

During a news conference following the speech, the foreign minister dismissed a 10-point proposal put forward by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative.

“It is completely not feasible,” he said of the peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”

He also said the UN proposal would not fly because the West did not deliver on its promises to Moscow, including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/23/empire-of-lies-russias-lavrov-slams-west-in-un-speech

Prachanda in China, says Nepal is ready to take BRI project further

Prachanda’s assurances to Xi, covered widely by the Chinese press, were in contrast to speculation he would ask Beijing to build the BRI projects in Nepal under a grant mechanism, which would allay fears that the project will push Nepal into a debt trap.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda

Nepal will continue to actively participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has said, laying to rest speculation that he would push Beijing for measures to safeguard Nepal from falling into a debt trap.

Prachanda, who flew to Hangzhou from New York to witness the inaugural session of the Asian Games, has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that his government will further promote the Trans-Himalayan network as it will “greatly assist” Nepal’s national economic development. The Trans-Himalayan network, an economic corridor between Nepal and China, is part of the BRI.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/prachanda-in-china-says-nepal-is-ready-to-take-bri-project-further-8953415/

Pope says countries should not “play games” with Ukraine on arms aid

Pope Francis holds a news conference as he returns to the Vatican following his apostolic journey to Hungary, aboard the plane, April 30, 2023. Vatican Media/­Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Pope Francis suggested on Saturday that some countries were “playing games” with Ukraine by first providing weapons and then considering backing out of their commitments.

Francis made his comments aboard the plane returning from a trip to the French port city of Marseilles. He was responding to a reporter’s question about whether he was frustrated that his efforts to bring about peace had not succeeded. He has sent an envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to meet with leaders there.

He said he did feel “some frustration” and then began talking randomly about the arms industry and the war.

“It seems to me that the interests in this war are not just those related to the Ukrainian-Russian problem but to the sale of weapons, the commerce of weapons,” he said.

“We should not play games with the martyrdom of this people. We have to help them resolve things … I see now that some countries are moving backwards, not wanting to give (Ukraine) arms. A process is starting in which the martyr certainly will be the Ukrainian people and that is an ugly thing,” he said.

Asked for a clarification, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope was not taking a stand on whether countries should continue to send weapons to Ukraine or stop sending them.

“It was a reflection on the consequences of the arms industry: the pope, with a paradox, was saying that those who traffic in weapons never pay the consequences of their choices but leave them to be paid by people, like the Ukrainians, who have been martyred,” Bruni said.

Source:https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-says-countries-should-not-play-games-with-ukraine-arms-aid-2023-09-23/

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