Women hold key to India’s foreign affairs

New Delhi: India’s new external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has said that it’s been conveyed to Pakistan that talks between the two countries can only be successful when acts of terror by it cease. In taking charge as the foreign minister, Ms Swaraj has become the first one woman who will be independently handling the external affairs ministry portfolio.

Ms Swaraj who was speaking shortly after taking charge on Wednesday referred to what  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated earlier — that the sound of bomb blasts drowns the sound of talks. This message was conveyed to Pakistan during the bilateral meeting that Mr Modi had with his Pak counterpart here on Tuesday.
Ms Swaraj stated: “If bomb blasts stop and we talk, both sides will be able to hear each other. However, if blasts continue, neither side will be able to hear each other and the din will drown out the talks.”

As for the PM’s meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, the minister said that the issue of implementation of the 13th amendment — it provides for devolution of powers to the Tamil-majority provinces of the island nation — was taken up by the PM.

Asked what approach the new government would adopt towards the US--it's a country with whom bilateral ties remain strained following the Devyani Khobragade episode--Ms Swaraj said she would be talking to US secretary of state John Kerry soon.

Mr Kerry, in fact, has already expressed a desire to visit India. He was here in mid-2013 too and will be looking towards rebooting Indo-US ties that spiralled downwards following the Khobragade episode in December last year. With Ms Swaraj at the helm, the MEA is clearly a ministry that’s dominated by women at the top.
For the foreign secretary too is a woman, Sujatha Singh, an IFS officer of the 1976 batch.

Also occupying two other top slots in the MEA are secretary Sujata Mehta and Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhyaya.