A day after US President Barack Obama left town, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government removed the foreign ministry’s top bureaucrat and replaced her with the nation’s ambassador to the US.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who also served as India’s envoy to China from 2009 to 2013, was appointed as foreign secretary, according to a government statement on Wednesday. He succeeds Sujatha Singh, who becomes the first person in the post to be removed before her term expired since 1987.
Jaishankar, 60, who was due to retire by the end of this month, played a key role during both Modi’s visit to the US in September and Obama’s recent three-day tour. He is to have a tenure of two years, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said in the statement.
“It’s a very Modi-like decision and characteristic of the prime minister,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi. “It sends a message down to the bureaucracy. The message is that performers will be rewarded.”
Obama’s visit highlighted warming ties between the US and India, which are both wary of China’s geostrategic aims and looking to boost economic growth. They reached a breakthrough on civilian nuclear cooperation and signed deals to strengthen defense ties, including the possibility of sharing technology for aircraft carriers.
Along with his experience representing India in the world’s two biggest economies, Jaishankar helped negotiate the groundbreaking US-India civil nuclear agreement in 2005.
“A big plus point for Jaishankar is he has elaborate experience with the US,” former Indian foreign secretary Salman Haidar said. “This is an extremely important relationship for India and the prime minister.”
Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj plans to visit China on Feb. 1 to participate in trilateral talks that also include Russia. During Obama’s trip, the US and India highlighted the need to safeguard maritime security in the South China Sea, prompting China to urge non-claimants to butt out.
Singh, the ousted bureaucrat, spoke at a press conference during Obama’s visit and was due to retire later this year.
The last foreign secretary to leave office unceremoniously was A.P. Venkateswaran, who was kicked out by former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in part over his criticism of India’s troop presence in Sri Lanka as part of peacekeeping operations.
“This time the circumstances are unusual,” former Indian foreign secretary and former ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh said, referring to Singh’s removal. “Ultimately the prime minister wants a foreign secretary who has his confidence, and it’s well within his right to appoint Jaishankar.”
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party rejected criticism over the timing of Singh’s removal and said it was not political, according to spokesman Nalin Satyakam Kohli.
“The government is within its right to appoint any one for any responsibility,” he said by phone. “Jaishankar is an outstanding officer and he enjoys a stunning reputation.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS