CAA-NRC: "We Seem To Be In Violation Of International Commitments, says Ex-Foreign Secretary"

by GoNews Desk 4 years ago Views 2467

NRC
Former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon has said that India is getting increasingly isolated in the world due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the envisaged Nationwide National Register for Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

Menon was addressing a briefing at the Press Club of India on Friday. He also warned that global isolation would hit the economy. “More than half of its (India’s) GDP depends on external sector”, he stated.


Menon was also the National Security Advisor in the last Manmohan Singh government.

Bringing up India’s commitments to the international community, he said:  “All these declarations prohibit discrimination on the grounds of national origin which is exactly what the CAA does. All the people I have spoken to have agreed that we seem to be in violation of international commitments”.

Menon pointed out that India is a signatory to Article 2(1) of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

 “It is one thing to go it alone in pursuit of national goals as we did in 1971 at the birth of Bangladesh but then we had global opinion on our side, it is quite another to do so in the pursuit of sectarian, divisive, party political goals as we seem to be doing now. But the one thing that matters more to India now than ever before is more than half of our GDP is external sector, we depend on the world for energy, capital, technology, market, essential raw materials, fertilisers are 80% of our imports. So, disengagement or going it alone is not an option but we seem determined with actions like these to cut ourselves off or isolate ourselves. This will lead to no good end,” said Menon.

See portions of the address by former Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon below:

 

 

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