May 1: India on Thursday called as "propaganda" certain social media posts from the Arab world alleging harassment of Muslims in several parts of the country in the name of containing the spread of coronavirus.
Strongly rebutting the charges, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the Gulf countries are deeply committed to friendly relations with India and they are even seeking bilateral talks on the post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
Talking about India's close and traditional ties with the Arab countries, he said New Delhi is ensuring uninterrupted supply of food and essential commodities to the region during Ramzan as part of its deep-rooted friendship.
Srivastava said the countries in the region do not support any interference in India's internal affairs.
"Much of what you see is propaganda by interested parties. Stray tweets can not be used to characterise our bilateral ties with these countries. The real picture of these relations is very much different," he said during an online media briefing.
There has been a wave of angry reactions on Twitter by leading citizens and rights activists from various Arab countries following allegations that Muslims are being blamed for spreading COVID-19 in several parts of India.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a powerful bloc of 57 countries, recently accused India of "Islamophobia". India rejected the charges as regrettable.
"We have been making special efforts to ensure uninterrupted supply of food and essential commodities which are required during the Ramzan period in these countries, and this is something which has been greatly appreciated. These countries also want a priority discussion with India on the post-COVID-19 economic recovery," Srivastava said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have been in regular touch with their counterparts from the region in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"In these discussions, there have been requests for sending medicines and medical teams to these countries. We already deployed a Rapid Response Team in Kuwait. There is also a request to send doctors and nurses from India," said Srivastava.
"What comes out clearly is that these countries are deeply committed to friendly relations with India. They also do not support any interference in internal matters of India. It is, therefore, important that the friendly and cooperative nature of our relations is accurately recognised and the misuse of social media is not given credence," he added.
Asked about reports of an order issued by Oman's Finance Ministry asking all state-owned companies to replace foreign workers with qualified local Omanis, Srivastava said it is not aimed at Indians working in the Gulf nation.
"The policy is a decades-old one and not specific to India. It does not target the Indians in any way," he said.
There have been apprehensions that the order will render thousands of Indians working in state-run firms in Oman jobless.
"They greatly value relationship with India. Government of Oman is taking special care of Indians which included free testing for coronavirus, its treatment, providing food," the MEA spokesperson said.
Oman government is also extending certain categories of visas of Indians.
Srivastava said India has been in touch with its friends and partners across the world as part of the collaborative approach to dealing with the pandemic.
Comments
If muslim had super power with nuclear weapon, figther jet etc. and instead of wearing kurth & payjam they wear black suit with tie like american and then drop BOMB on poor yogesh house and kill all your child, wife, mother after that yogesh try to fight back with old rated rifle" THEM MUISLIM WITH BLACK SUIT & TIE CALL YOGESH YOU ARE TRRROEIST"
Dear YOGEST will you accept This?
you should clean your mind before the soul leaves from your body.
the biggest terrorist in the entire universe is AMERICA dont act like them.
Mr. sangeeth....abba what r u saying my friend really???? first check how many criminals are there in BJP party and corrupted politicians one poster boy example is in front of you Mr. yeddy he is CM candidate of karnataka.... and you people are supporting him..... U people are andh bakht who cant see anything accept modi modi and hindutva..... this chors will not feed you and ur family only you have to..... so think of it before you say something
Mr. Yogesh.... what about your relatives sadhvi pragya, karnal purohit, aseemanand are this people desh bhakts...... who havent hoisted the national flag for more than 52 years....wah bhai wah tum karo to nationalist aur hum kare to anti national........ vinaash kaal
Simple thing is in India if a muslim protests or kills then he is branded as terrorist but if non-muslims do the same they are naxals. I just want to know how many Army personnel and citizens have Naxals massacred.
Stop blabbering. Most of your people are traitors and antinationals. If we, bjp not there, then you would have turned our Bharatha into hell
Mr. Khan, You cant say All muslims are not traitors.. 99 percent of terrorists are muslims... You can check anywhere. I am challenging you mr. khan
Present scenario changed alot. If you are working for society then you cant be in any political parties.. All parties are corrupted
Dear SDPI, PFI workers.., Please note this. Dont be slaves of political parties
Add new comment