New Delhi, Jun 15: The Congress on Monday attacked the government over the killing of three Indian seafarers in American attacks on ships and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi raise the issue with President Donald Trump as well as take diplomatic action to ensure the US pays a price for breaching the Geneva Conventions.
The opposition party strongly condemned the killing of the three Indian seafarers and questioned Prime Minister Modi’s silence on the tragedy. The party accused Modi of compromising the country’s sovereignty, independence and dignity by not even registering a strong protest against such “brutal murders”.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate condoled the death of Aditya Sharma, Shivanand Chuarasiya and Patnala Suresh and expressed profound sympathies with the bereaved families.
She slammed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks while speaking with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as “rubbing salt into Indians’ wounds”.
“Quite contrary to the claims made by Jaishankar that India had registered a strong objection, Rubio neither expressed any regret nor any sympathies for the bereaved families but instead threatened that the US can do the same thing in future,” Shrinate claimed.
“Only one of the two (Jaishankar and Rubio) was speaking the truth,” she said.
Shrinate said Rubio seemed to be speaking the truth as otherwise it would have been contradicted by the government.
She said India should have demanded a formal apology, compensation for the families and assurances regarding the safety of Indian sailors working in the region.
She also argued that New Delhi should have considered postponing engagements related to the ongoing India-US trade negotiations in light of the incident.
Shrinate the government’s handling of the issue reflected weaknesses in India’s foreign policy and questioned whether the Prime Minister would raise the matter with US President Donald Trump during his forthcoming interaction on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Paris.
Drawing comparisons with previous governments, Shrinate cited the handling of diplomatic disputes during the tenures of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, contending that earlier administrations had responded more firmly to perceived challenges involving India’s national interests.
Shrinate questioned the proposed visit of the US trade representative for finalising the trade deal. She said given the situation and anger prevailing across the country over the sailors’ killings the visit should have been postponed.
“The Congress demands that Prime Minister Modi must break his silence and issue a message of sympathy and condolence to the bereaved families,” she said.
Shrinate demanded that Modi raise the issue of the killing of innocent Indians with Trump.
She also urged the PM to raise the issue of America’s brazen response after the killing of three people rather than showing remorse. Shrinate said diplomatic action should be taken to ensure that America pays a price for breaching the Geneva Conventions and Article 38 of the UN Charter.
Her remarks come days after the US said it conveyed to India that any violation of its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and illicit transport of Iranian oil would not be tolerated.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio conveyed this to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who spoke with him on Friday to lodge a strong protest against the death of Indian nationals in US attacks on ships off the coast of Oman.
Three vessels with Indian crew came under attack off the Oman coast this week. One of them resulted in the death of three Indian seafarers on Wednesday.
Jaishankar then called Rubio to protest their death in a US military strike on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman. (PTI)
