Langar, Religious Freedom and War on Terror, Nikki Haley Has a Lot on Her Plate

New Delhi: In India for a three-day bilateral meet, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley seems to be enjoying her time in the national capital despite talks of a possible tension building up between the two nations.

A day after her tour of the 16th century Humayun’s Tomb, Haley was spotted at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi on Thursday. She paid tributes and later took part in the commonly followed practice of preparing langar for devotees.

Images of Haley stirring a massive cauldron and rolling chapatis along with US Ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster went viral on social media, with many, including Shiromani Akali Dal Manjinder S Sirsa, praising the ‘humbling’ act.

By the looks of it, Haley has been enjoying her India visit — a first for her since she took over as Ambassador to the UN.

The US envoy also visited other religious shrines of Jama Masjid, Gauri Shankar Mandir and Central Baptist Church.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Haley said, “We think freedom of religion is just as important as freedom of rights and freedom of people."

However, religious harmony is not the only thing on Haley’s mind for this trip.

The UN ambassador met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and discussed several issues of cooperation between the US and India while also reminding India to cut its “dependence" on Iranian oil imports.

“We strongly believe that Iran is a threat. We believe so because we have proof. Despite all incentives, Iran has violated the nuclear deal it signed with the US. We can’t be blind to these violations because a lot of countries came together for these agreements. We need to hold Iran accountable. In our eyes, Iran is next North Korea," said Haley, adding that the US wants the international community to be aware of this.

She said that the issues were discussed during her meeting with the PM on Wednesday, adding that India had ‘acknowledged the threats’.

Speaking of threats, Haley singled out Pakistan, saying that that the UN (and US) cannot allow any government to provide a safe haven to terrorists.

“We can’t tolerate Pakistani government or any other government giving safe haven to terrorists. We are communicating this message more strongly to Pakistan," Haley said.

The US envoy then shed some light on the postponement of the ‘2+2 Dialogue’ between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary Mike Pompeo that was supposed to take place next week. Haley said that it was “completely unrelated" to the recent developments and that the dialogue is being rescheduled.