A day after US President Donald condemned the shooting of an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla at a bar in Kansas, US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, in meeting with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, expressed condolences of US House of Representatives on the alleged hate crime.
"Our peoples must continue to stand together," Mr Ryan said in a statement after meeting with Foreign Secretary Jaishankar, who is the US to hold talks with top officials of the Trump Administration.
Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, engineer from Hyderabad, was with his friend Alok Madasani, at a bar in Olathe town of Kansas last Wednesday when he was shot by a navy veteran, Adam Purinton, 51, who allegedly yelled "get out of my country" before he opened fire. Mr Kuchibhotla, who worked with an American multinational was killed instantly. His friend Alok Madasani and a witness who tried to stop the shooter, Ian Grillot, were also injured.
"We had a great opportunity today to build on this critical partnership by discussing ways to enhance our economic and defence cooperation," Mr Ryan added.The relationship between the United States and #India is rooted in shared values of democracy and freedom. https://t.co/KsE5wJfJdlpic.twitter.com/LTsl9fYPdS
Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) 1 March 2017
US President Donald Trump, in his first joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, had denounced the killing of Mr Kuchibhotla and said America condemns "hate and evil" in all forms.
"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms," President Trump said.
Mr Jaishankar also met US National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster and discussed issues related to security relationship, counter-terrorism, and defence partnership.
Donald Trump had earlier pledged to strengthen Indo-US ties during his telephonic conversation with PM Narendra Modi in January.
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