Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 28

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss a wide range of issues. He began the day with a breakfast meeting with a carefully curated set of civil society leaders followed by a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Talks with Jaishankar covered expanding the existing cooperation in security, defence, cyber, and counterterrorism cooperation. Blinken also intends to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan with the Taliban’s military offensive having entered a stalemate, stepping up the Indo-Pacific engagement with an in-person meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers and, possibly, a summit as well.

“We’ll talk about many of the critical issues our countries are working on together, from Covid to climate change, defence, mutual security, trade and investment, education, energy, science and technology. The list goes on and on,” said Blinken in his opening remarks at a civil society roundtable after which he moved on to the business end of his visit which includes meeting Jaishankar, Doval and PM Narendra Modi, according to the US State Department.

Speaking on human rights and freedom, Blinken said both India and the US believe in human dignity, the rule of law and freedom of religion and belief. “We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government and be treated with respect, no matter who they are. These are fundamental tenets of democracies like ours, and our purpose is to give real meaning to these words and constantly renew our commitment to these ideals.’’

Admitting that the US is not perfect, he wanted India and the US to jointly address the problem of “democractic deficit” in the world.

Against the backdrop of imprisonment of several civil society activists here, Blinken said, “We need a vibrant civil society. I want to support more of those connections to make the overall partnership between our democracies even stronger.’’

“So what I hope we can do in our time today is do a little bit of that to continue to strengthen the connections among civil society and between civil society and government. I need to learn more about the work that you’re doing in your communities, especially during this pandemic. I want to know what more we can do to strengthen the ties between our civil society, and I want to hear your ideas, your ideas about how to drive inclusive, equitable development, because that’s something that democracies all over the world are called upon to do,” he told the civil society leaders.

“The US and India share a commitment to democratic values; this is part of the bedrock of our relationship and reflective of India’s pluralistic society and history of harmony. Civil society helps advance these values,” said a social media post by Blinken after the scheduled ‘Civil Society Roundtable’.

Among those present were lawyer Menaka Guruswamy, who has been critical of the Centre’s approach on Pegasus and human rights, Dr AK Merchant from the Bahai community which faces persecution in Pakistan, and Geshe Dorji Damdul from the Dalai Lama’s office.

Reacting to the US State Department stating on the eve of Blinken’s visit that human rights would be discussed, the Ministry of External Affairs had said, “As a long-standing pluralistic society, India is open to engaging those who now recognise the value of diversity.”

The US had tried to underplay the human rights aspect on the eve of Blinken’s departure for Delhi but, when faced with pointed questions at a media briefing, the State Department had to concede that the issue would come up during Blinken’s interactions that include a call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.