Sushma scores again on twitter

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has once again proved that her heart is in the right place.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has once again proved that her heart is in the right place. The minister, who was listed in the Global Thinkers List of 2016 compiled by Foreign Policy magazine “for fashioning a novel brand of Twitter diplomacy”, took to the platform on Tuesday to declare that Osama Ali, a 24-year-old from Rawalkot, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, and members of his family would be given visas to travel to India to treat a tumour in his liver.

Following the tense situation along the border with Pakistan, Swaraj had earlier declared that any Pakistani requiring urgent medical treatment in India would need a letter from Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan PM’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs. “I have my sympathies for all Pakistan nationals seeking medical visa for their treatment in India. I am sure Mr Sartaj Aziz also has consideration for the nationals of his country. All that we require is his recommendation for the grant of medical visa to Pakistan nationals. I see no reason why should he hesitate to give his recommendation for nationals of his own country,” Swaraj tweeted on July 10.

A private hospital in South Delhi had agreed to treat Osama, who might require a liver transplant. But when she heard that Pakistan’s foreign ministry had rejected Osama’s request for such a letter to be sent to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, she tweeted Tuesday that “POK is an integral part of India. Pakistan has illegally occupied it. We are giving him visa. No letter required.”

Days earlier, she had taken on Aziz for not having the courtesy to even respond to her request to grant a visa to the mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian on death row in Pakistan on charges of espionage and terrorism. Perhaps Aziz is not as Twitter friendly as Swaraj. Perhaps he does not think Twitter is the right medium for diplomacy. But he will be forced to pay attention to this one, because not only does it show him up in bad light, it also reasserts India’s claim to PoK.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com