A PIL has been filed in Supreme Court seeking directions to the central government to publicize all the trade policies with China, amid ongoing India-China border tensions.
From the last seven weeks, Indian and Chinese armies are engaged in bitter faceoff at the multiple border areas of Eastern Ladakh. The border tensions escalated much after the 20 Indian soldiers were killed in Galwan Valley on June 15.
The plea filed Jammu-based lawyer Supriya Pandita alleged that a state and a private firm had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for business with China-based firms. “After the June 15 incident at the LAC, the citizens and trade associations in India are calling for boycott of Chinese goods in the country,” stated Supriya Pandita.
“While the ban on these mobile apps may be a welcome step but on the other hand allowing few select business house or few select state government to enter into MOU with Chinese business house or stakeholders from China sends a wrong message to the people of India,” said the petition filed through advocate Dushyant Tiwari and Om Prakash Parihar.
Taking cognizance of the violent Galwan Valley India-China faceoff, the government has given the armed forces “full freedom” to give a “befitting” response to any Chinese misadventure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the 3,500-km de-facto border.
In addition to seeking the government to make all the trade policies with China public, the plea also seeks top court’s directions to the centre to terminate all the MoUs signed with the China government or firms.
The petition states that all the agreements or Memorandum of Understanding signed by Indian government or companies with Chinese government or companies for the sake of business, is completely against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of “Aatma Nirbhar Bhaarat” (Self-Reliant India).
Recently on June 29, Indian government has banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, ShareIt, WeChat, UC Browser, Shein, and others.
