Washington: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he would look into the case of an 83-year-old Catholic priest, held in India on allegations he was linked to Maoists.
Responding March 10 to a request from a member of the House of Representatives, Blinken asked for more information on Jesuit Father Stan Swamy’s case and said: “We’ll look into it.”
Juan Vargas, who is the vice-chair of the House International Economic Policy and Migration Subcommittee, told Blinken while questioning him that it was “incredible injustice” that Swamy, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency, has been in jail for over 130 days.
Vargas also said that he had himself been a member of the Society of Jesus.
Father Swamy was arrested in Ranchi, eastern India, and taken to Mumbai in the west, and detained in a jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on allegations that he participated in the activities of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist.
The case relates to a celebration by Dalits on December 31, 201, in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, which was followed by violence that left one person dead the following day.
Swamy has been an activist for tribal and Dalit rights.
Earlier in his testimony to the Committee on President Joe Biden’s Priorities for US Foreign Policy, Blinken said that in furtherance of its aims, “We held the first ministerial meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between us, Japan, Australia, and India, and we will hold a leader-level summit” on May 12.
China was the dominant theme during the hearing with Blinken declaring, “Our relationship with China, the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century”.
Repeatedly questioned about Biden’s comment when asked on a CNN program about Beijing treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority that “culturally, there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow”, Blinken reiterated that he considers there was a “genocide” of the Uighurs and the US would continue to speak out forcefully against it.
Source: indiatvnews.com