Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday as part of multiple bilaterals scheduled on the sidelines of the BRICs summit in Johannesburg even as local media reported that he had come close to pulling out of the summit.
A report suggested that Johannesburg had sent Energy Minister Jeff Radebe at the last moment to diffuse a diplomatic crisis that erupted after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of the country wrote to Mr. Modi saying that they were investigating charges by the Muslim Lawyers Association on human rights violations in Kashmir. It was reported that Mr. Radebe explained to New Delhi that the NPA was not empowered to press charges as the Indian PM was protected by the Geneva Convention governing international summits. The Ministry of External Affairs has not commented on this episode so far.