NEW DELHI: Former Attorney General of India (AG) Mukul Rohatgi has refused to represent the Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok and challenge the ban imposed by the Centre on 59 mobile applications linked to China in the aftermath of the Galwan Valley face-off in Ladakh.
According to reports, Rohatgi had said that he will not represent a Chinese company and challenge the ban imposed on it by the Government of India amid ongoing ‘tense times’.
The former senior Supreme Court lawyer further stated that he is not willing to represent TikTok in the Supreme Court as he does not wish to appear for a Chinese company and argue against the government during such tense times.
Video-sharing platform TikTok was one of the 59 Chinese apps which were banned by the government citing national security concerns.
Government agencies had noted that these apps were engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
In its first response after the ban, TikTok said that it was complying with the ‘interim order’ and that it would meet concerned government stakeholders for an ‘opportunity to respond and submit clarifications’.
Twenty Indian Army personnel, including a Colonel, were killed in the clashes with the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on the night of June 15-16.
While China has acknowledged casualties on their side, it has not specified the numbers. Beijing has not made any official statement on the casualties suffered by the People’s Liberation Army during the face-off with the Indian Army.
India, on its part, categorically rejected Beijing’s untenable claims regarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and said that it contradicts its earlier stand on the issue. The Minister of External Affairs claimed that since early May 2020, the Chinese side has been hindering India’s normal, traditional patrolling pattern in the area.
“Since early May 2020, Chinese have been hindering India’s normal patrolling pattern in the area. This resulted in face-off which was addressed by ground commanders. We don’t accept the contention that India was unilaterally changing status quo, we were maintaining it,” the MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
He also added that the “Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC in all sectors of India-China border areas, including the Galwan Valley. They abide by it scrupulously here, as they do elsewhere.”
The MEA Spokesperson also categorically rejected China’s claim that India was unilaterally changing the status quo. Taking further retaliatory steps, the Narendra Modi government on Monday imposed a ban on 59 Chinese mobile Apps.
Source: Zee News