New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India will take back any of its citizens living in the US illegally, while emphasising that efforts need to be made to end human trafficking. In response to a question by a journalist after US President Donald Trump and he issued statements, PM Modi said that it applies to the entire world that anyone who enters a country illegally has no right to live there.
PM Modi’s statement comes a week after 104 Indians were deported to India on board a military aircraft, with their hands and legs shackled, stirring a row. “The young, vulnerable and poor people of India are fooled into immigration. These are children of very ordinary families who are lured by big dreams and big promises. Many are brought in without knowing why they are being brought in. Many brought in through a human trafficking system,” he said.
He also said that India and US should make joint efforts to end the “ecosystem” of human trafficking. “Our bigger fight is against that entire ecosystem, and we are confident that President Trump will fully cooperate with India in finishing this ecosystem,” he added.
Trump, on the other hand, said the US will extradite 2008 Mumbai attacks convict Tahawwur Rana, calling him “one of the very evil people in the world”. “India and America have been together in the fight against terrorism. We agree that solid action must be taken to eliminate terrorism that originates on the other side of the border. I am thankful to the President that he has decided to extradite a criminal to India who committed genocide in 2008 in India. The courts in India will take proper action,” PM Modi said.
The US President also announced agreements on energy import agreement and trade routes. “The Prime Minister and I also reached an important agreement on energy that will ensure the US to be the leading supplier of oil and natural gas to India, hopefully, the number one supplier. In the groundbreaking development for the US nuclear industry, India is also reforming laws to welcome US nuclear technology, which is at the highest level in the Indian market,” Trump said.
“We agreed to work together to help build one of the greatest trade routes in all of history. It will run from India to Israel to Italy and onward to the US, connecting our partners, roads, railways and undersea cables. It is a big development,” he added.