Horrified at violence against women in India, says US

June 4, 2014

Washington, Jun 4: The United States has said it is "horrified" at reports of sexual violence and murders in India and it also applauded the role of individuals, government officials and civil society groups working to protect the survivors.

Violence against women in India
"Like so many in India, we were horrified to learn of these violent sexual assaults and murders. Our thoughts are with the victims families during this difficult time," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said yesterday.

Harf was responding to questions on the brutal gang rape and murder of two teenaged girls last week in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district.

"As we have said, changing laws and changing attitudes is hard work," she said.

However, Obama administration had praised the role of government officials along with civil society groups working to protect the survivors in the country.

"We applaud the many individuals, government officials, and civil society groups in India that are working to protect the survivors, to prevent gender-based violence, to help it try to change what is really hard to change," she added.

The former USIBC president, Ron Somers, said the urgent need of the hour is to double-down on law and order, particularly to protect women and to administer the law fairly to all sections of society.

"The headlines of the recent rape case are becoming all too frequent. This tragedy is a blight on all humanity, affecting all of us directly.

The damage such an act perpetrates on India's image is real. Investors and travellers the world over hesitate and pause while considering basic safety," he said.

"Recognising that law and order is a state subject, and knowing that crimes of hate are acts of violence that respect no national borders, if only the central government could set a model example to spur best practices for keeping the peace, protecting the innocent across all of India, this is the urgent need of the hour", Somers said.

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Agencies
November 22,2025

indiapak.jpg

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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