End US electronic surveillance in India: CPI-M

The CPI-M Friday asked the government to shut down the US electronic surveillance facilities allegedly provided to it in India.

It said in a statement that the latest disclosures by American whistleblower Edward Snowden show that India was collaborating with the US in its electronic surveillance in Indian territory.

"The US has installed some 700 servers in 150 locations around the world, one of which is near New Delhi," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

This was "part of a hitherto undisclosed programme called 'Xkeyscore', under which electronic snooping is undertaken by the US National Security Agency.

"The programme is meant for searching through the vast database containing emails, online chats and browsing histories of millions of individuals."

The CPI-M said the Indian government earlier justified the "snooping" in the name of tracking terrorist activity, with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid saying it was no snooping but an analysis of the pattern of telephone calls.

"Now it is clear that this justificatory statement was made because the government of India itself is a collaborating partner in the global spy network of the US, which undermines the sovereignty of India."

The CPI-M said it deplored the Indian government action, and urged the government to "forthwith stop collaborating with the US in its snooping on Indian citizens and close down the electronic surveillance facilities provided to it in India".