New Delhi: Despite the Japanese Prime Minister and two Bangladesh ministers cancelling their visits after protests broke out over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the government has stonewalled all queries of the diplomatic community here.
The stand taken by the government is that it is not obliged to brief the diplomats on these issues since they are absolutely an internal matter. This is at variance with the government contesting a host of advisories against travel to India issued by the foreign governments in the wake of the Anna Hazare protests and unrest in Kashmir. The fact is that many more countries have issued the advisories this time and they include Russia, Saudi Arabia and UAE.
For that matter, the abrogation of Article 370 and the Ayodhya verdict were also internal matters and yet the government adopted a proactive approach to brief the diplomats in Delhi, as it also did in the case of the Pulwama attack and Balakot strikes.
Diplomats are, however, building pressure on their governments wanting to know more about CAA and NRC, since they may be internal matters but they have the external implications.
BANGLADESH ONLINE EMBARGO: Fearing that some Muslim refugees living in India might try and sneak into Bangladesh, the Sheikh Hasina government on Monday suspended mobile services in areas along the border. Though the Bangladesh high commission officials said they were not aware of the decision, the Dhaka media reported that the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had issued an order for
