A
fact ‘factually not logical but logically
relevant’ hitherto unknown, now that Mr
Snowden ‘indeed’ dare to expose the misconduct of USA National Security Agency and
bringing to light the ‘illegal’ activity inside NSA. After fleeing from USA, Mr
Snowden first arrived in Hong-Kong and admitted leaking NSA documents, in
current proceeding of the drama Mr Snowden ‘with the help of Wikileaks legal
adviser Sarah Harrison ‘has made request to seek political asylum in a no. of
appropriate embassies, that Mr Snowden’s commendable expose’ in the eyes of
human right activist’ has ‘unsurprisingly’ taken several sovereign nation by
surprise, in this context it is interesting to wait and watch the entire drama
unfolding exceptionally from a stand of International point of view.
This
might weigh upon to some extent on America’s international stand and relation
with other sovereign states including the biggies like UK, as the reports have
been floating that US bugged UK computers, printers and other electronic
equipments, CHINA, RUSSIA etc. to bring under the net of its snooping program. As per the reports of Washington post and The
Guardian, NSA has captured many countries under its snooping net with Iran, Pakistan
and India securing top slots ‘irrespective of their order of precedence’ has made the respective governments to seek an
answer from USA that the reasons they were intensively spied for. Leave out Pakistan
and India, in the eyes of USA there exist reasonable legitimate purpose for, why
the Iran shall stand first in this recently worked out merit list, Iran’s
nuclear enrichment plan has long been a bone of contention between this country
and international communities and sovereign nations including USA and UK.
Already sanction laden ‘and perhaps burden’ Iran may not well be able to
present a solid reasoning to secure its interest to an extent to earn a crystal
clear image of its nuclear enrichment program which it has hitherto been
asserting is for the peaceful purpose and further to lift up its economy,
perhaps one can conclude that it is a win-win position for USA since it has so
many reasons to defend its stand.
In the context
of Mr Snowden, it has also been reported that he has also requested India to
seek for a political asylum, India has long been granting asylum, such as the
case of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama whom India granted political asylum
in 1958-59 and there have been a number of refugees from neighboring and
non-neighboring countries, albeit India is not party to the 1951 refuge
convention or its 1967 protocol and doesn’t legally adhere to any refuge
protection framework. Irrespective of its legal status of not being a signatory
to UNHCR (United nation human commissioner on refuge) 1951 convention relating
to the status of refuges and the 1967 protocol, it continue to grant asylum to
large number of refugees from neighboring states and continues to respect UNHCR’s mandate for other nationals.
India’s move to turn down Snowden request has
come naturally, that there are a lot of things at stake with USA, India has
rightly turned down Snowdens’ appeal for a political asylum as long as this
situation is viewed from a point where both the countries are writing new
lessons in their bilateral co-operation in nuclear & energy sector, we
shall not forget the fact that a substantial amount of foreign investment comes
from the USA and granting asylum to one
who is most wanted in America even after an American warning ‘that no country
should grant asylum to Mr Snowden’, might to prove to be a wise decision and
that even in the time of slowdown, a recent statistic highlights the fact that
we are on a course of procuring a number of strategically vital equipment to
fulfill our defense and energy sector needs, we can’t even ignore the fact that
a recent study also highlighted the fact that USA also has a large amount of potential
reserves of shale gas and our OMC’s have also bagged several oil and natural
gas contract with American companies . In a nutshell “We still have issues of
vital importance to be resolved than to accept Mr Snowden’s request and put
forth ourselves in an issue ‘even’ Russians ‘understandably’ not trying to
mingle up”. Technically speaking “Our current stand and position “from an
international view point “neither allow us to feel that we are technically
sound nor strategically influential enough to intervene and overlook the prevailing
economical and strategic issues within our territory and neighboring nations”.
So it is imperative to bring into the process the sense of stability which we
lack in international, regional and bilateral arena.
I do not mean that
we should always yield to pressure asserted on us from outside but to grow
strong and smart enough to shield us from any outside influence.
It has been
reported that Indian embassy is among 38 missions under cyber snooping, India
has turned down the issue by saying that there no scrutiny or access to
information and that it is only a computer study and a computer
analysis of pattern call, but without scrutinizing we cannot call a country
like America to simply come into the witness box answer all our questions or
face “sanctions” for not duly able to come up with an appropriate reason or
even if the condition is what Indian embassy has recently conceded that “it is only
a computer study and a computer analysis of pattern call”, do we have enough technology
and expertise to inquire the matter otherwise in a similar way without being exposed that
the USA has hitherto been doing? Answer is no!! Because we are technologically
not advanced and strategically not influential, so need of the hour is to stick
to the basics and strike not only when iron is hot but to also make sure it is
red and we have efficient, effective, and time tested hammer in hand, i.e.
innovate-formulate-create-dictate.
Being and
Indian and that Mr Snowden requested us political asylum I owe an apology to
this guy.
I hope he
will remain safe and pray for his well being.
