In a scathing rebuttal to the US to New Delhi with the threat of sanctions on the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, foreign affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday that CAATSA, the US domestic law that provides for sanctions for such transactions with US adversaries, was for Washington to settle.
“It is their law and whatever they have to do, they have to do it.” Jaishankar Said, indirectly declaring that India will do whatever it takes to protect its security without worrying about sanctions.
Several US lawmakers have been railing about India’s defense purchases from Russia long before the Ukraine crisis, warning of sanctions on New Delhi, even as deliveries of missile systems began late last year.
The Indian minister similarly attributed US criticism of human rights in India to the US lobby and vote bank.
Jaishankar said, “People have a right to have an opinion about us. We are also entitled to have an opinion about their lobby and vote bank. We will not be reticent. We also have views on other people’s human rights, especially when It belongs to our community.” Strongly denied one of the successive American discourses on human rights.
The annual country report on human rights practices released by Riposte came hours after state Department On Tuesday, among other things, government officials in India at both local and national levels “threatened” important media outlets through physical harassment and attacks, followed by the Secretary State Antony Blinken said the US was monitoring an “increased human rights abuses” in India.
But beyond these critical notes on Washington’s censorious approach, the Indian minister painted a broader upbeat picture of the relationship, suggesting that “there is a gap between (US) policy and narrative” and people in the Biden administration dealing with policy. are well versed and they “understand where India is coming from.”
Asked whether the prolonged war between Russia and Ukraine would put more strain on US-India ties, Jaishankar said the ties between the two countries have “the strength and the level of comfort to deal with differences”, even though The two sides may not agree on all the issues. ,