External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said that there was no discussion on human rights in India during the India-US ‘2+2’ foreign and defence minister dialogue in Washington on Monday.
“No, we did not discuss human rights during this meeting,” Mr. Jaishankar said to reporters at a press interaction for Indian media on Wednesday, in response to a question from The Hindu whether the topic had come up. The Minister said the issue had been discussed in the past, such as during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to New Delhi last year.
At a joint press conference on Monday, Mr. Blinken brought up human rights issues in India, saying, “We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values. And to that end, we’re monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials”.
