India is committed to protecting the interests, safety and honour of its professionals working in foreign countries, Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi asserted on Saturday.
The assertion came at a news conference in Thiruvananthapuram in the context of the reported detention and ill treatment of about 200 Indian IT professionals in Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, suspecting them to be illegal immigrants.
''If Malaysia continued with this kind of action, we will scrap our agreement on scientific cooperation with that country,'' Joshi said, adding that he had conveyed to a Malaysian minister, who met him, the strong feeling of the India government over the Brickfields incident, the like of which ''we will not be able to tolerate.'' Joshi said he was waiting for the final report of the Indian High Commissioner in Malaysia.
Stating that there was recession all over the world, he said, ''when it comes to retrenchment, the brunt is borne by the foreign professionals.''
Joshi said in the present state of global economy ''we will have to be careful. However, India has a good position and respect among the comity of nations''.
On Sunday last, Malaysian police raided an apartment in Brickfields and rounded up Indian nationals, especially IT specialists.
UNI