No country welcomes everyone as citizens: Jaishankar hits out at CAA critics

No country in the world welcomes everyone as citizens, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday, hitting out at those criticising India on the new citizenship law.

He also slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council for expressing concern over the situation in Kashmir, saying its position on the issue was wrong in the past as well.

"We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated," he said at the ET Global Business Summit when asked about the growing criticism of India over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

In an unprecedented move, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights approached the Supreme Court against the new citizenship law earlier this week.

Asked if India was losing its friends over the CAA, Jaishankar said, "Maybe we are getting to know who our friends really are."
He stoutly defended the law, saying every country follows certain social criterion to grant citizenship, adding: "We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves."
Asked about criticism of India by the director of the UN rights on the Kashmir issue, Jaishankar said, "UNHRC director has been wrong before. How carefully they (UNHRC) skirt around the cross-border terrorism problem, as if it has nothing to do with country next door. Please understand where they are coming from; look at UNHRC's record how they handled the issue earlier."
On opposition to the CAA and whether India has not been able to convince the world enough, he said, "There are sections of the world outside of the media."
"In a world that is more narrowly economic, trade negotiations have acquired a higher profile in international affairs. Much of that arises from the behaviour of America, the strategy of China, the approach of Japan and the focus of Europe. As a nation that is still to integrate itself into global supply chains, develop its infrastructure and scale up its capabilities, these are not easy times."