India silent on Khashoggi

US President Donald Trump seems to have taken a stern and more appropriate stand on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian journalist and critic of the new dispensation in the kingdom virtually run by the crown prince. In a marked shift from his earlier vacillating positions, Mr Trump admitted that Mohammed bin Salman may have been involved in the operation to get rid of the dissident journalist. The state department is revoking the visas of 21 Saudi nationals and further action may be taken at the behest of the Senate. The most heinous crime carried out by a nation in its consulate in another country had not met with the opprobrium due from the US as the journalist had enjoyed resident status in the US.

There is intense speculation whether it was a botched exfiltration operation carried out with or without the knowledge of the crown prince. There are reports circulating that certain human body parts were taken back to the kingdom as souvenirs from the elaborate hit squad operation while the body itself lay in the garden of the Saudi envoy’s home in Ankara. European countries stood up to condemn the killing straightaway. Compare that to the deafening silence from the Indian government, its leaders and the foreign office and the image of a soft power with a voice of reason that used to be heard in world affairs internationally lies shattered. The silence tells a tale of servility to the arrogance of money power.