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Transcript of Weekly Media Briefing by the Official Spokesperson (December 06, 2024)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

December 06, 2024

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good evening dear friends. Let's begin this Press Briefing. I open the floor for questions.

Madhurendra Kumar, News Nation: Sir, Madhurendra Main News Nation se. Kal WMCC ki baithak hui thi aur usme jankari di gayi ki kis tarah se Bharat aur China ne Eastern Ladkah mein disengagement ke baad cheezo ko progress kiya hai. Lekin jo previous disengagement hua tha jiske baad abhi tak patrolling Gogra, Hotspring, PP14 aur Pangong ke ilaake mein shuru nahi ho payi hai. Uspar kya koi baatcheet hui? Kya waha par patrolling hum dobara shuru kar payenge? Kyunki jab tak waha par patrolling shuru nahi hogi, tab tak hamara word jo hai ki purwarti sthiti bahaal ho, who nahi ho payegi.

[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Sir, I'm Madhurendra from News Nation. In yesterday's WMCC Meeting, it was informed how India and China have made progress on things following the disengagement in Eastern Ladakh. However, after the previous disengagement that was reached, we still haven't managed to resume patrolling in Gogra, Hotspring, PP14 and Pangong regions. Have there been any talks on that? Would we be able to resume patrolling in those regions? Because until the patrolling resumes there, we won't be able to achieve our stand of reaching the previously existed position.

Yeshi Seli, The New Indian Express: This is Yeshi Seli from The New Indian Express. Is the Foreign Secretary likely to travel to Bangladesh next week for Foreign Office Consultations? And what is the situation on the ground where the ISKCON member, Chinmaya Das has not been given bail and his next date is in January. What is India doing now?

Sidhant Sibal, WION: Hi Sir, Sidhant from WION. Sir, how does India see the situation in Syria? And sir secondly, Taliban has put a ban on women's medical education. How does India see that?

Ayushi Agarwal, ANI: Sir this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. One question on Bangladesh. If the Foreign Secretary will visit Bangladesh, will there be any meeting with the interim government? And also has India received any confirmation from the Kremlin side regarding Putin's visit to India next year?

Rishabh Madhavendra Pratap, Times Now: Sir, good evening. Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, Masood Azhar, who was mastermind of Pulwama attack and other attacks in India as well, has made a public address after 20 years and has vowed to renew attack on India. Any response to that?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay let me first answer these questions.

Madhu pehle aapka sawal patrolling ko lekar Eastern Ladakh mein. Is mamle par Foreign Secretary ne baat ki. Is mamle par Parliament ke andar Videsh Mantri ne apna vaktavya rakha, statement rakha. Patrolling ki jahan tak baat hai Eastern Ladakh mein, hum logo ne clear kar diya hai ki jis jagah patrolling honi thi, jo sthiti bahaal honi thi, wo sab bahaal ho gai hai.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Madhu, first your question regarding patrolling in Eastern Ladakh, Foreign Secretary spoke on this issue. External Affairs Minister gave his statement on this issue in the Parliament. As far as patrolling is concerned, we have made it clear wherever patrolling was to be done, whatever situation was to be restored, has been done.

Yeshi, Foreign Secretary is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on 9th of December. And he will meet his counterpart and there will be several other meetings during the visit. Foreign Office Consultations led by the Foreign Secretary is a structured engagement between India and Bangladesh. We look forward to this meeting. As far as the situation on ground regarding the individuals that you mentioned, we want to reiterate our position again that they have legal rights and we hope that these legal rights will be respected and that the trial will be fair, transparent. They will get a fair and transparent trial.

Sidhant, your question regarding Syria, we have noted that there has been recent escalation in fighting in North Syria. We are closely following the situation. There are about 90 Indian nationals, we understand. There are also several Indians there who are working with UN organizations. Our Embassy is in regular touch with our Indian nationals for their safety and security.

On your question regarding medical education, our position on such matters is very well known. So I would refer you to look at what we have said in this regard.

Ayushi, I just talked about Foreign Secretary's scheduled visit to Bangladesh on 9th December. He will be visiting Bangladesh for Foreign Office Consultations.

On the other questions regarding visit of President Putin, We have, with Russia, an arrangement of Annual Summits. The last Annual Summit was held in Moscow for which Prime Minister travelled to Moscow. The next one is scheduled to be held in India, next year that is. And the dates for the same will be worked out through diplomatic channels.

Rishabh, your question regarding this terrorist, he is a UN designated terrorist. We demand that strong action be taken against him, that he be brought to justice. There has been denial that he is not there in Pakistan. What you are referring to, if the reports are correct, then it exposes the duplicity of Pakistan. Masood Azhar is involved in cross-border terror attacks in India and we want that strong action be taken against him.

Huma Siddiqui, Financial Express: Sir I am Huma Siddiqui from the Financial Express. There has been Martial Law in South Korea, and of course it was removed now. The situation is tense. So, is there any concern about the Indians in South Korea, and what is India wanting to do in case there is a repatriation situation? And my second question is, has any date been decided for the India-Africa Forum?

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Bloomberg: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg. I wanted a clarification on the WMCC statement from yesterday. The statement says that, you know, both India and China have completed the resolution of the issues that emerged in 2020. Would that in any way mean that disengagement is done and this is the end of it and de-escalation is not on the cards? I mean discussions on de-escalation.

Raghavendra Verma, ZDF: Sir, this is Raghavendra Verma from German television ZDF. My question is regarding the scam call centres from India that target people abroad. How serious is the issue, what government is doing to tackle it and how successful are those efforts? And is there any international cooperation or any other mechanism that exists to deal with it?

Ayanangsha Maitra: Sir this is Ayanangsha Maitra. Sir, during Foreign Secretary's visit to Bangladesh, I suppose this is the maiden visit, will his discussion be only pertain to his counterpart Jashim Uddin and the Chief Adviser. If not, what sort of format it is, because this is already a structured sort of interaction. Secondly an off shoot from Sidhant Sibal's question, if sort of strict measures are taken on female medical students in Afghanistan, what support will India do to the female medical students in Afghanistan? Thank you.

Ajay Banerjee, The Tribune: Sir, I am Ajay Banerjee from The Tribune. I am asking a follow up to what Sudhi asked. Sir, the External Affairs Minister, in one of his statements in Parliament, had mentioned that the next step of de-escalation will be taken forward. What Sudhi mentioned, that WMCC yesterday kind of said it's a closed chapter. Could you please clarify on that?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So Huma, regarding South Korea, as you know, South Korea and India have a very important partnership. We have strong economic and political partnership. We're obviously monitoring the developments in South Korea. We have very strong investment, trade linkages. We have very strong defence cooperation with South Korea. We also have very strong people-to-people ties in South Korea. We also have a large number of Indian nationals who live in South Korea. On all these developments, we continue to maintain a close watch. So, if there is any eventuality or anything... these may have a bearing on the safety of our Indian nationals, as also bearing on our interests. We maintain a close watch and we hope that the situation in the country will stabilise soon.

On India-Africa Forum Summit, Huma I don't have any update for you at this point of time. Hopefully we will work out these details through diplomatic channels. And as and when we have an update on it, we will be sharing this with you.

Sudhi, your question regarding WMCC, the WMCC is very clear. If you look at the Press Release that we have issued, it talks about the implementation of the disengagement process. So, that is one process which is complete. And now it will move onto the de-escalation process, which is also mentioned in the External Affairs Minister's statement.

So, I hope, Ajay, that answers your question as well.

Raghavendra, on the call centres issue, we take all these things very seriously. We have agencies here who are looking into this matter. We have strong cooperation with their international partners as well. Our law enforcement agencies have been taking strong and swift action against the culprits. We have been also discussing these cyber-related issues with countries abroad, when we have these cyber conversations and dialogues. Also, our agencies here in India, through Interpol and through bilateral arrangements that we have with specific countries, they have been taking action or undertaking joint efforts for evidence, for more information, so that we can clamp down on the cybercrime call centres which are targeting people abroad. Also, to share with you, as you know, that we have specifically created an agency for this purpose, which is called the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, I4C, in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and they have been actively pursuing these efforts.

Ayanangsha, on the Foreign Secretary's visit, you know, he will be discussing all issues that are of mutual interest. Aside from his counterpart, he will have several other meetings. Those are being worked out and you will be updated on them. On the other issue that you raised, I have already said, India's views on such matters is very clear and very well known.

Ajay, I also answered your question.

Sapna, Sadhna Group: Sapna Sadhna Group se. Sir Russia lagatar invest kar raha hai Bharat mein, already kaafi invest kar chukka hai, aage bhi invest karne ka soch raha hai, to sir antrrashtriya star par iska kaisa asar padega India ka.

[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Sir, Sapna from Sadhna Group. Sir, Russia is investing a lot in India. They have already invested a lot, and they are planning to invest more in India. How will this affect India on an international level?

Keshav Padmanabhan, The Print: Sir, Keshav Padmanabhan from The Print. In the statement made by the External Affairs Minister on China in the Parliament, he mentioned that now that the disengagement phase has... there's an agreement on this, we'll be looking at opening other sectors in a calibrated manner. Can you give us a sense of... because there has been news, at least from China, about the need for visas, direct flights, so can you give us sort of a sense of what is on the agenda in terms of the next steps of opening these sort of ties with China? Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So, Sapna pehle aapka sawal Russia ke investment ko lekar hai, dekhiye hum log chahte hain ki Bharat ke jo program hain, Make in India ho, aur jis prakar ka hamara program chal raha hai ki duniya mein hum apne aap ko ek majboot manufacturing sector ke roop mein manufacturing industry ke liye ek majboot destination ke roop me apne aap ko prastut karen. Isme aapne dekha hoga ke kai ek saari videshi companies yaha par pichhle kuchh saalon me aayin hain aur hamara jo Make in India program hai aur Bharat ko ek manufacturing destination ko promote karne ka jo hamara silsila hai usmein kaafi majbooti aayi hai. Russia se bhi investment aaye hain aur hum chahte hain ki aur jo hamari jitni yaha par potential hain unko yaha par istemaal kiya jaaye aur hamare jo aarthik naate hain Russia ke sath, investment trade ke naate hain aur majboot ho. Ye achi baat hai, isse aur logon ko bhi protsahan milega, wo dekhenge ki kis prakar ka kaam hum yaha par kar pa rahe hain, kis prakar se hamari cheejen jo yaha banti hain, wo duniya me kis prakar se khari utarti hain, uski quality ho, uske kifayti daam ho, in sab cheej ko lekar. Low cost-high quality manufacturing ke liye Hindustan ko bade najdeek se dekha ja raha hai, ek ache destination ke roop me dekha ja raha hai

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Sapna, on your question regarding Russia's investment, we expect that India's programs like Make in India and others, and the way in which our programs are ongoing, we want to project ourselves as a strong manufacturing sector in the world. We want to present ourselves as a strong destination for the manufacturing industry. You would have seen that many foreign companies have come to India in recent years. And we have gained strength in our efforts to promote India as a strong manufacturing destination through our Make in India program. We've received investments from Russia too, and we want that all our available potential is utilised to its best. And we expect that the economic ties, investment and trade ties that we have with Russia, should strengthen. This is a good thing and will motivate others too. They shall see how work is happening here, how the items manufactured here are of good quality and have affordable price. India is being closely viewed for low cost high quality manufacturing. We're being viewed as a suitable destination.

Keshav, on this particular matter of next steps, we have had... you know, even after when the External Affairs Minister had a meeting with his counterpart on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Rio, there again, these matters were discussed and we issued a Press Release, giving a readout of what lies ahead. In the WMCC Press Release also, you would have seen that now preparations are on for a Special Representative meeting. We also talked about the Foreign Secretary level meeting. So, once these meetings take place, we will be discussing the next steps, and then you will see how things are to be taken forward, how those things will be taken forward, the things that you are talking about.

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.