Nirupama talks tough on Canada’s BSF comment

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Tuesday that India takes “very seriously” the disparaging comments by the Canadian high commission about the BSF while rejecting an immigration plea of one of its former constables.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Tuesday that India takes “very seriously” the disparaging comments by the Canadian high commission about the BSF while rejecting an immigration plea of one of its former constables.

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“The matter was taken up immediately with the Canadian high commission. We take this matter very seriously. We have expressed concern and we continue to take this seriously,” Rao told reporters.

Last week, the Canadian high commission here refused a visa to Fateh Singh Pandher, a retired Border Security Force (BSF) constable, and said the paramilitary group was a “notoriously violent force.”

In damage control mode, Canadian foreign ministry spokesperson Catherine Loubier had said, “I would like to stress Canada has the highest regard for India’s democratic institutions and processes. Canada has great respect for India’s armed forces and related institutions.”

China N-reactors

India on Tuesday said it was aware of reports that China was selling two nuclear reactors to Pakistan and examining the matter to see if the deal conformed with Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines.

“We are alert to these reports. These reports say that cooperation is ostensibly for peaceful purposes and one within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards,” foreign secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters during a briefing about President Pratibha Patil’s visit to China.

“We have to see what is the outcome. This matter has to

be discussed by the NSG,” she said.

China has said it would set up two reactors in Pakistan, in addition to two earlier power reactors Beijing has set up.