NEW DELHI: Former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on Friday said that because of the “cumulative effect of a series of actions” including Citizenship Amendment Act and the withdrawal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution has made India “increasingly isolated” from the international community.
Mr. Menon was addressing an event organised by the Constitutional Conduct Group and Karwan-e-Mohabbat at the Press Club of India on public briefing of the theme –CAA/NRC/NPR said global public opinion are being shifted against India in the last few months.
Mr Menon said that because of the two-pronged challenges of the CAA and the NRC,“there has been no meaningful international support apart from a few committed members of the diaspora and a ragtag bunch of Euro MPs from the extreme right.”
Mr Menon, who played a critical role in the India-US nuclear deal, said that the this isolation is really increasing and the list of critical voices abroad is quite a long from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and even King Harald V of Norway have criticised India’s actions.
“All knowledgeable people I have spoken to seem to agree that we seem to be in violation of our international commitments. For those who say international law cannot be enforced, we must consider the political and other consequences of being perceived as violators of international law,” Menon said.
Menon said that India was violating Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by passing the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“We seem to be in violation of our international commitments,” he said.
Menon said,“Disengagement or going it alone is not an option, but we seem determined with actions like this to cut ourselves off and isolate ourselves.”
Excluding Muslims, the Citizenship Amendment Act grants citizenship to six non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India till December 31, 2014.