India raises issue of trafficking of Indians with Laos
India today raised the issue of trafficking of Indian nationals through cyber-scam centres with Laos and discussed measures to rescue those who have fallen prey to such criminal networks.
I brought up the subject of Indian people being trafficked through cyberscam sites during my discussion with the Prime Minister of Lao PDR,” Jaishankar wrote in a post on X.
“I appreciate the ongoing cooperation of the Lao PDR government in the rescue and relief of our nationals,” said the president.
According to Jaishankar, he also spoke with the foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia about the same issue.
Typically operated by Chinese crime syndicates, cyber fraud networks in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand have taken hundreds of Indian citizens as their victims. Employees are coerced into taking part in different cyber frauds by employers, who typically entice them with the prospect of IT industry jobs. In the past few years, hundreds have been saved and brought back to their home countries from these four nations.
Jaishankar also conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s best wishes to Solimxay and discussed development partnership between India and Laos as well as cooperation in defence, energy, digital, capacity building and heritage conservation.
In a separate meeting, Jaishankar and Laos Foreign Minister Solimxay Kommasith exchanged Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in sharing digital solutions and 10 Quick Impact Projects for Laos under the Mekong Ganga Cooperation initiative.
Jaishankar and Salimxay launched a special postage stamp set celebrating the shared cultural heritages of Ramayana and Buddhism.
The commemorative stamps issued by Laos reflect the civilisational ties between the two countries and include two stamps depicting Lord Buddha from the ancient capital of Laos, Luang Prabang city and Lord Rama from Ayodhya.
Apart from the ties to Buddhism, the Ramayana (the Lao version of which is called the Ramakien or the story of Phra Lak Phra Ram) is revered in Laos and is performed on auspicious occasions.
The theme of this stamp set is therefore “Celebrating the shared cultural heritage of Lao PDR and India”. A unique feature of this set is that the stamp issued by Laos on Lord Rama is the first in the world to depict Ram Lalla of Ayodhya.
