Riot criticism showed our true friends: External Affairs Minister Jaishankar

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that the global criticism levelled against India over the Delhi violence and Citizenship Amendment Act only showed who our friends really were.Asked if India was losing friends due to the violence and the CAA at an event in Delhi, the EAM said, “Maybe we are getting to know, who our friends really are.” 

Saying that India needs to manage relations differently now as our confidence has grown, Jaishankar said, “We have to engage everybody. It is a kind of portfolio management, you spread your bets, and get the best.” Jaishankar also hit out at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over its concern on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The UNHRC skirts around cross-border terrorism as if it has nothing to do with country next door. Please understand where they are coming from - look at UNHRC’s record — how they handled Kashmir issue in past,” he said and pointed they have been wrong before. The minister’s comments come days after the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Michelle Bachelet expressed grave concern over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and on the violence in north east Delhi. The UNHCHR has also filed a plea in the SC seeking to be an amicus curae in the hearings on the CAA.

Jaishankar also defended the Centre over passing the CAA. “Everybody, when they look at citizenship, have a context and a criterion. Show me a country in the world which says everybody in the world is welcome. Nobody says that,” he said. The minister said that India has done its best to reduce the number of stateless people by introducing the CAA. “It should be appreciated. We have done it in a way that we don’t create bigger problems for ourselves,” he said.