Wednesday, 2 July 2014

New Headache in US-India Ties: A Snooping Outrage - Wall Street Journal

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Reports that the U.S. National Security Agency may have spied on the Bharatiya Janata Party comes at an inconvenient time for the U.S. as it makes overtures to the new Indian government.


The NSA, one of the U.S.’s main spy agencies, had carried out the surveillance on six political organizations world-wide after being authorized by a U.S. court in 2010 to do so, according to a Monday report in the Washington Post newspaper.


Mr. Modi is all set to go to Washington, meet the U.S. President Barack Obama and possibly address a joint session of the U.S. Congress in September.


But these disclosures, analysts say, could cast a shadow on a summit between the world’s largest democracies.


“There will always be irritants in the relations between the two countries. This is one of them,” Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian foreign secretary and ambassador to the U.S., said.


Dismissing the alleged act of snooping as “illegal,” Mr. Mansingh said “it is not good for both the nations to be spying in such a blatant fashion.”


He said the issue “should be sorted out” before Mr. Modi’s visit to the United States. “The Americans will need to explain and express an apology.”


It will be the first time Mr. Modi has been able to enter the U.S. since being denied a visa in 2005 based on a U.S. law that bars foreign officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom. Mr. Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat when religious riots there killed as many as 1,000 people—mostly Muslims—in 2002. He has denied any wrongdoing and a court last year ruled that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute him.


This year, as opinion polls made it increasingly clear that he might become India’s prime minister, the U.S. started warming up to Mr. Modi.


Last month, a senior U.S. lawmaker said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner that Mr. Modi should be given the honor of addressing a joint meeting of Congress.


Even the September trip is a result of an invite from Mr. Obama in May after Mr. Modi became prime minister and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is also likely to visit India soon.


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