Foreign secretary censures WikiLeaks disclosures

NEW DELHI: For the first time on Friday, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao made her disapproval of WikiLeaks -- the secret US cables that have been made public by the whistleblower website -- saying, "privileged communications" should remain like that. While launching the redesigned MEA and Public Diplomacy websites, Rao said there was a civilisational system that "we would all prefer to see the world operate in".
According to her, "all democracies and civilised societies operate on certain rules and regulations. There is privileged communication that a government enters into, lets say between an embassy and the headquarters. This is what was happening in the case of American leaked cables."
She elaborated, "So, there is a certain system that has prevailed and operated successfully for many decades. Even before we had electronic means, there were privileged communications. And they should stay that way."
She added that this should be the case until a few decades after which such information can be opened to scholars and journalists as part of non-classified archives.