India rejects plea for asylum to Snowden

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid defends US, says it is not snooping

India on Tuesday turned down a request for asylum for former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who has been on the run ever since he admitted to leaking several classified documents that revealed the US' programme to obtain internet and phone data of a number of countries. For the past week, Snowden has been staying at the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

"We have carefully examined the request. Following that examination, we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the request," said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) here on Tuesday. He also confirmed that the Indian embassy in Moscow "did receive a communication dated 30 June from Edward Snowden. That communication did contain a request for asylum".

Snowden, a former technical contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is currently reportedly working for Wikileaks, whose founder Julian Assange is also under asylum by Ecuador and has been holed up at its embassy in London.

With the US' pressure building up, Snowden has sent asylum request to 21 countries including India, Italy, Nicaragua, China, Norway, Spain and France, among others, through Wikileaks' legal advisor Sarah Harrison.

Harrison submitted the request by hand to an official at the Russian consulate at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on Monday late in the evening. Earlier, she had made similar requests to Ecuador and Iceland.

According to a Wikileaks press release, the documents that were handed over by Harrison stated the "risks of persecution Mr Snowden faces in the United States and have started to be delivered by the Russian consulate to the relevant embassies in Moscow".

In a statement issued by Snowden on Monday, he accused US President Barack Obama of violating human rights and pressurising countries not to give him asylum. He said Obama is "afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be".

'Computer analysis, not snooping'
Meanwhile, regarding the recent reports over American intelligence agencies snooping on internet servers and reading through private data including India, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday defended it saying, "It is actually not snooping."

"This is not scrutiny and access to actual messages. It is only computer analysis of patterns of calls and emails that are being sent. It is not actually snooping on specifically on content of anybody's message or conversation. Some of the information they (the US) got out of their scrutiny, they were able to use it to prevent serious terrorist attacks in several countries," said Khurshid in Brunei, where he is attending meetings on ASEAN region.

Ironically, his ministry had earlier expressed "concern and surprise" when reports of US spying on private data of countries came to light through international media reports last month. The ministry had also said then it will be "unacceptable" for India if it finds US digging out personal data.

US' Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in India last week, had said that the issue is "highly misunderstood" and that such an exercise by them have "saved several lives by preventing terrorist attacks."