Sushma tells Kerry US snooping on India is not acceptable

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of alleged US snooping on BJP in her meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday and told him that it was unacceptable.

“I told them that Indians were very angry when the report came out. I told them that both countries consider each other as friends and friends don’t snoop on each other,” Ms Swaraj said in a joint press meet after the 5th India-US strategic dialogue.

“I told Secretary Kerry that this was completely unacceptable to us,” Swaraj added.

India had protested soon after the report broke out that National Security Agency (NSA) had been snooping on BJP.

This was the first high-level meeting between India and US since the Narendra Modi government took over.

Kerry said President Barack Obama had ordered review in the intelligence activities conducted by the US agencies following the worldwide outrage against the snooping.

“President Obama has undertaken an unprecedented review of intelligence working,” Kerry said adding, “We don’t discuss intelligence matter publicly. But we value sharing of information regularly on counter-terrorism with India. US President Barack Obama clearly articulated that we fully respect and understand feelings expressed by Indian nationals.”

In a joint statement India and US said they will strengthen efforts to “combat terrorism, proliferation of WMDs, nuclear terrorism, cross-border crime and address the misuse of the internet for terrorist purposes, in compliance with respective laws.”

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