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New Delhi: India’s relations with the Gulf countries remain under the spotlight, and India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that “misuse” by “unofficial” social media accounts based in Kuwait “must not be credible,” adding that the Kuwaitis government was committed to friendly relations with New Delhi.
India’s statement on Monday night came after a day of rumors on social media about a two-month-long “secret” letter from the secretary-general of the Kuwaiti council of ministers.
The letter, dated March 2, which has been circulating online, is addressed to the Kuwaiti foreign minister and asks him to approach the Organization of the Islamic Conference on alleged atrocities against Indian Muslims.
The current controversy started on posts from certain Twitter identifiers belonging to Indian citizens based in the region, who criticized Muslims for allegedly “spreading the coronavirus.” These tweets caught the attention of eminent Arab intellectuals, largely from the United Arab Emirates, more than a week ago. Since the UAE has strict laws against the abuse of any other religion, most of these Twitter identifiers disappeared soon after.
Among those who led the backlash in the Arab Twittersphere was Kuwaiti activist Abdur Rahman Nassar, who had posted screenshots of old tweets from a parliamentarian from India’s ruling party.
The letter, which appeared after more than six weeks, adds to concerns about India’s relationship with the Gulf states, but is unrelated to current failures due to the date of its creation. Instead, the letter, which officials admit is authentic, may have been written after the Delhi riots in late February.
MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava said the government was aware of “certain references to India on unofficial social media in Kuwait.”
“The Government of Kuwait has assured us that they are deeply committed to friendly relations with India. Nor do they support any interference in the internal affairs of India, ”he said in a statement.
Srivastava recalled that India had acted at the request of Kuwait and deployed a Rapid Response Team to help the Gulf state combat the COVID-19 pandemic. “During their two-week stay in Kuwait, the team provided valuable medical assistance in testing and treating affected people and in training their staff,” he said.
The Indian diplomat noted that it was “therefore important that the friendly and cooperative nature of our relationships be accurately recognized and that the misuse of social media is not credited.”
A day earlier, Kuwait’s official news agency, Kuna it had issued a statement by the Kuwaiti ambassador to India, Jassem Al-Najem, that relations between the two countries had had a historical flavor. He also stated that both countries shared many principles in foreign policy, including “no interference in the affairs of other countries and respecting the sovereignty of nations. “
By the way, the Twitter account Kuwaiti activist Nassar is suspended at the time of publication of this article.
Previously, on April 22, the Indian embassy in Kuwait had posted on Twitter that it was important to focus on fighting COVID-19 and “don’t be distracted by fake news on social media with malicious intent. ”
The Indian embassy post had been part of a series of statements on social networks issued by other Indian missions in the region, calling the Indian community last week.
The backlash from social media in the Arab world had raised concern in the South Block, and appeared in a Serie of phone calls between the Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Jaishankar, and his counterparts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly tried to highlight that his close personal relationships with Arab royal families have revitalized India’s relations with the Gulf, which is crucial to India’s energy security and the largest sources of remittances abroad.
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