Thailand- India relations
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Extradition requests
Munna Zingada case in India’s favour
The extradition of senior D-Company operative and Chhota Shakeel aide Munna Zingada, who served 16 years in a Thai jail for an attempt to assassinate Chhota Rajan, is expected to help India establish his boss Dawood Ibrahim’s presence in Pakistan. This, an intelligence source pointed out, is precisely the reason why Islamabad left no stone unturned to secure his deportation by anyhow proving him to be a Pakistani national.
Of course, the counter-evidence submitted to the Thai court by India — fingerprints, DNA samples of his family members in India, collegeleaving certificate and copies of FIR registered against him in Mumbai for crimes including murder — punctured Pakistan’s claim and led the court to rule Zingada to be an Indian national. Munna Jhingra, whose real name is Sayyed Muzakkir Muddassar Hussain, is a native of Sayyed Muddassar Chawl near Toofani Kirana Stores, Prem Nagar, Jogeshwari (East), Mumbai. His father Muddassar Hussain had deep links with the 1993 blasts in Mumbai, according to Indian agencies.
Pakistan had earlier used forged documents to secure extradition of Myanmarese drug peddler and Zingada’s close aide Ibrahim Koko. Though he was extradited to Pakistan in 2015, the local Pakistani court during the trial ruled he was travelling on fake Pakistani documents and ordered his deportation back to Thailand.
According to intelligence sources, Zingada had been under the patronage of Pakistan’s ISI for being a trusted leader of D-Company. It was ISI that prepared his Pakistani passport in the fake name of Mohammed Saleem to facilitate his visit to Thailand for executing the assassination of Chhota Rajan. Even after he reached Thailand for the assigned task, his protection was taken care of by the embassy of Pakistan, an intelligence officer told TOI.
Trade relations
2024/ Thailand accuses India of exporting ‘subsidised’ rice
Sidhartha, February 29, 2024: The Times of India
Abu Dhabi : A comment by Thailand’s ambassador to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield, accusing India of using ‘subsidised’ rice procured for the public distribution system for capturing the export market, has created a diplomatic storm with govt lodging a strong protest and Indian negotiators refusing to participate in some deliberations in groups where a representative from the southeast Asian country is present.
The Thai ambassador’s comment on Tuesday during a consultation meeting was cheered by some representatives of rich nations, angering the Indian delegation here.
Thailand is seen to be fronting for the US, European Union, Canada and Australia, among others, which have blocked a permanent solution to public stockholding for over a decade. Officials said a strong protest has been lodged with the Thai govt and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal took up the matter with USTR Catherine Tai and EU executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, making it clear that the language and behaviour were unacceptable.
Govt officials told TOI that the Thai ambassador had got all her facts wrong as only around 40% of the produce is procured by govt to meet food security obligations. A part of the remaining quantity, which is not procured by govt agencies, is exported from India at market price.
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2019
Decision to boost defence co-op
Nov 3, 2019: The Times of India
Key Highlights
PM Modi had a conversation with Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on stepping up the bilateral cooperation through connectivity, trade & investment, defence and security, among other areas
The two leaders welcomed the growing air connectivity between the two countries and start of a direct flight between Bangkok and Guwahati, said MEA
BANGKOK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha on Sunday agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the defence industries sector and explore possibility of boosting trade ties during their talks on the sidelines of the Asean Summit.
Both the leaders also discussed ways to enhance connectivity between the two countries, including in the areas of physical and digital spheres, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister's office said both leaders held extensive deliberations on accelerating the friendship between India and Thailand.
Modi arrived here on a three-day visit to attend the Asean-India, the East Asia and the RCEP summits.
The MEA said Modi and Chan-o-cha reviewed the progress made in bilateral relationship and noted that frequent high level meetings and exchanges at all levels have created positive momentum in the relationship.
"Noting the enhanced engagement in defence and security fields, both sides agreed to explore opportunities for cooperation in defence industries sector. Welcoming 20 per cent growth in bilateral trade last year, leaders decided to task the trade officials to discuss ways and means to enhance trade and investment," the MEA said.
It said the two leaders welcomed the growing air connectivity between the two countries and start of a direct flight between Bangkok and Guwahati and also finalisation of agreements for cooperation between Ranong Port in Thailand and Indian ports in Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakapatnam.
Modi and Chan-o-cha also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
"India and Thailand are close maritime neighbours having historical and cultural linkages. In the contemporary context, India's 'Act East' policy is complimented by Thailand's 'Look West' policy which has made the relationship deep, robust and multifaceted," the MEA said.
Modi also held a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
2024
2024: India to send four relics of Buddha to Thailand
February 21, 2024: The Times of India
New Delhi: As an extension of its ‘Look East’ policy, India will send four holy relics of Lord Buddha to Thailand for a month starting Feb 22, the second such outreach in two years it has made to a country with a large Buddhist population. In a similar special goodwill gesture to its “spiritual neighbour” Mongolia, India had sent the sacred ‘Kapilvastu relics’ to Mongolia in Dec 2022. The relics, believed to contain Gautam Buddha’s remains, were part of the collection on display at the National Museum and had last been part of a multi-city display in Sri Lanka in 2012.
Though the relics were accorded the ‘AA’ category status by the Archaeological Survey of India on account of their rarity and delicate nature, and were typically not sent out of the country, an exception was made for Mongolia following a special request from govt and in light of India’s long-standing diplomatic ties with its ‘Third neighbour’ in the East.
This time too, the Kapilvastu Piprahwa relics, which are preserved at the National Museum, are being sent to Thailand on the request of the Thai govt. In addition to the four relics, on govt’s request, the relics of two disciples of Lord Buddha, preserved in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanchi, will also be sent to Thailand for display, culture secretary Govind Mohan said. India has doubled down on its efforts to leverage its ‘soft power’ and to develop and promote the Buddhist circuit by investing heavily in developing infrastructure projects along the circuit. Mohan said the relics will be displayed at three other locations in Thailand in turns, from March 4 to 18. On March 19, the relics will be brought back to India, he said.
Thailand recalls trade envoy after Indian protest
Thailand has recalled its ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) after India lodged a strong protest over remarks she made about New Delhi’s rice procurement programme, Indian media have reported.
Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield reportedly accused India of exporting 40% of the rice procured for its public distribution system, which Indian officials said was factually incorrect. Indian officials boycotted deliberations at a subsequent ministerial meeting where she was present.
An Indian official said Ms Pimchanok had been asked to report back to Thailand after the WTO ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi.
India expressed strong disappointment over the remarks the Thai envoy made during a consultation meeting on Tuesday. She reportedly said that India’s rice procurement programme at a minimum support price for its public distribution system was not for the people but for capturing the export market, the Times of India quoted an unidentified official as saying.
The newspaper said the Indian delegation was “furious” with the tone of Ms Pimchanok’s intervention during a closed-door meeting on reforming farm trade, especially on providing flexibility for the government to procure food grains for public distribution.
Ms Pimchanok is a former director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office at the Ministry of Commerce.
Some representatives of rich nations reportedly cheered the Thai representative’s statement.
“The whole issue appeared to be orchestrated with some of the developed countries seen to be behind it,” the Times of India quoted another official as saying.
Indian officials say similar comments had been made during earlier meetings at the WTO in Geneva, which the Delhi government saw as an attempt to portray India as flooding global markets with subsidised rice, which would violate global trade rules.
India is the world’s largest rice exporter, ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. The government recently restricted non-basmati rice exports in a bid to reduce domestic prices.
India has been seeking a solution at the WTO to the issue of subsidy caps, calculated on prices fixed at 1986-88 levels, as it has breached the ceiling of 10% of production value for permitted levels of support for procurement for its food programme.
The conference in the United Arab Emirates ended on Saturday with a temporary extension of an e-commerce moratorium but without hoped-for deals on agriculture and fisheries.
The WTO, the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations, requires full consensus from all members to chalk up deals.
The UAE chair of the gathering, Thani Al Zeyoudi, acknowledged the shortcomings.
“Despite our best efforts, we failed to agree on some texts which are of great importance to many of our members,” said Al Zeyoudi, who also serves as the foreign trade minister of the UAE.
After a 2022 deal that banned subsidies contributing to illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing, the WTO was hoping to conclude a second package focusing on subsidies that result in overcapacity and overfishing.
Negotiations in recent months at the WTO headquarters in Geneva had produced a draft text that provided flexibility and advantages for developing countries.
But some — notably India — demanded further concessions, including transition periods that others consider too long.
