US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI1873

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 001873 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KCRM, IN, External Political Relations 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PRESSES TIP WITH HOME MINISTER 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David C. Mulford for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1. (C) Meeting on March 9, the Ambassador again urged Home 
Minister Shivraj Patil to focus more on the trafficking issue 
in order to avoid the downgrading of India from the Tier 2 
Special Watch List to Tier 3 in June, which could set in 
motion a series of unfortunate and restrictive developments 
in US-India relations. 
 
2.  (C) Commenting that he had raised this issue in January 
during his last meeting with the Minister along with Senator 
Bingaman and Congressman Faleomavaega, the Ambassador 
stressed that with the June deadline looming, the GOI should 
consider the ramifications seriously.  It was already March, 
and US legislation was specific on the kinds of steps the USG 
would have to take in the event of a TIP downgrading, 
including at multilateral lending agencies.  The Ambassador 
noted that the USG would then have few choices, which could 
impact negatively on bilateral ties and which both countries 
wanted to avoid. 
 
3.  (C) Acknowledging the TIP problem, the Home Minster 
attributed it to India's huge population, a "conservative" 
population that did not treat the issue as urgently as in 
"more liberal countries," and uneven levels of development 
countrywide, as well as deep poverty in neighboring countries 
from which many trafficked persons originated.  Patil 
reported that several bills currently before the Parliament 
would improve GOI ability to investigate and prosecute 
traffickers.  One bill would amend the Penal Code to improve 
witness protection measures.  Another would facilitate 
investigation and prosecution of those who traffic in 
persons.  The GOI was fully behind these changes in existing 
law. 
 
4.  (C) Patil apprised the Ambassador about a conference of 
Chief Ministers planned for after the Budget Session recess 
beginning on March 23 at which he would take up the 
trafficking issue.  He acknowledged that this alone would 
"not solve the problem," but since many responsibilities for 
addressing the trafficking problem reside at the state level 
in India, it was necessary to focus Chief Ministers on it for 
full cooperation. 
 
5.  (C) The Home Minister returned to the trafficking issue 
at the end of the meeting, which also covered Kashmir and the 
Naxalite/Nepal nexus (septel), asking again to receive any 
concrete suggestions about how the GOI could better address 
this problem.  D/Polcouns drew attention to a proposal the 
MHA has been tasked to draft for expanded US-India law 
enforcement training and cooperation against traffickers. 
The Ambassador stressed that this kind of activity would be a 
clear demonstration of GOI resolve, and was in Patil's area 
of responsibilty. 
MULFORD