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‘Unacceptable’: US on harassment of journalist
The White House has said it was aware of the “reports of harassment” of Sabrina Siddiqui, the Wall Street Journal reporter who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question about the treatment of minorities in India.
The White House has said it was aware of the “reports of harassment” of Sabrina Siddiqui, the Wall Street Journal reporter who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question about the treatment of minorities and place of free speech in India last week, and termed it “completely unacceptable”.
In response to a question about the online attacks Siddiqui has faced since she asked her question, primarily revolving around her religion and heritage, John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said: “We are aware of the reports of that harassment. It’s unacceptable. And we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances. That’s just completely unacceptable.”
Speaking at a regular White House press briefing on Monday, Kirby added that the harassment was “antithetical” to the “very principles of democracy” that were on display last week during the state visit.
On June 22, in the east room of the White House, at a joint press conference with President Joe Biden, Modi had, in a rare instance, taken a question from the press. The WH picked Siddiqui from the American pool. She had said that while India had long taken pride on being a democracy, human rights groups had said that the government had discriminated against religious minorities and silence critics; in that backdrop, she asked, “As you stand here in the East Room of the White House, where so many world leaders have made commitments to protecting democracy, what steps are you and your government willing to take to improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in your country and to uphold free speech?”
While Modi had given a strong answer defending India’s democratic constitution, government and values and its commitment to human rights and humanity, Siddiqui, who is a Muslim of South Asian heritage, has since faced an online pushback from the government’s supporters at home.
Later in Friday’s press briefing, in response to a separate question about the discussions on human rights between the two leaders and what Biden had told Modi, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The President will never shy away on having those conversation with a world leader, a head of state, when it comes to human rights. He has done that throughout the past two years and through his career as a vice president and certainly as a senator. I am not going to get into private conversations, but I think we have made ourselves very clear here on our view.“
Asked if Biden had accepted Modi’s answer to the question, Jean-Pierre said that it was for the PM to answer and for reporters to critique or write about it. “What I know is that we are certainly committed to the freedom of the press, which is why we held a press conference last Thursday, which is why we thought it was important for you all to hear from both, not just from the President, but also from the Prime Minister, and for journalists to be able to ask a question,” Jean-Pierre said. It is understood that the White House was keen on the joint press conference and asked the Indian side, which had expressed a preference for a joint press appearance without questions, to be open to a question.
Separately at a State Department press briefing on Friday, Matthew Miller, the department’s spokesperson, was also asked about the conversations on human rights between the two leaders. He reiterated that the US “regularly” raised concerns about human rights with Indian officials, and Biden had done so in the joint press conference.
Asked about the response by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to former President Barack Obama’s comments about how he would have raised issues of treatment of ethnic minorities in India with Modi, Miller chose not to comment.
