New Delhi: The Centre told a parliamentary committee Monday that New Delhi will convey to Washington DC its displeasure over Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, delivering nuclear threats from the soil of the United States, sources told ThePrint.
The committee, it is learnt, was told by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri that US President Donald Trump’s imposition of steep tariff on Indian exports was not just a response to New Delhi’s purchase of Russian crude oil but could also be connected to its presence in BRICS.
MPs who attended the meeting said Misri told the Lok Sabha Committee on External Affairs headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor that New Delhi’s position remains that BRICS was not an anti-Western grouping but should be seen instead as a “non-Western grouping”.
Sources said Misri told the MPs that India would not tolerate such nuclear blackmail. ThePrint exclusively reported on 10 August that Munir, speaking at an event in the US, said, “we are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.”
“India’s position will be conveyed to the US,” sources quoted Misri as having said.
Misri is also learnt to have told the panel that the US’s trade deficit with India may also have been a trigger for Trump, who first announced the imposition of 25 percent tariff on Indian exports to the US and later raised it to 50 percent citing the ‘direct or indirect import of Russian oil’.
The foreign secretary is learnt to have added that India will not cross certain “red lines”—a reference to US’s demand for India to open up its agriculture and dairy sectors—in its trade negotiations with Washington.
“The three issues that India believes could have acted as a trigger for Trump are purchase of Russian crude oil, trade deficit and India’s presence in the BRICS multilateral grouping. India’s position is very clear. Misri said New Delhi never considered BRICS to be an anti-Western bloc but believes it can be categorised, if at all, as a non-Western bloc,” an MP who was part of the meeting told ThePrint.
Sources in the Indian establishment have previously argued that New Delhi’s sale of processed Russian crude oil was necessitated by various European countries, who stopped importing from Moscow, becoming dependent on supplies from India.
Apart from Misri, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was also present in the meeting that lasted over three hours. The officials told the MPs that the latest developments would not have any impact on India’s “friendship” with the US.
“Trade is just one aspect of India-US relations. There are many positives also,” one official is learnt to have told the committee.
The officials added that India’s trade relations, including defence purchases, would not be affected by Trump’s announcements. In response to questions from MPs, they underlined that India is not trying to “enhance” or recalibrate its relations with China or Russia in light of the US President’s remarks and announcements.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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