- During the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,s visit
to the UN General Assembly, a group of American nuclear experts from the
U.S. State Department visited India to give a report detailing Washington,s
views on Iran.
-
- India is among other countries that were influenced by
the U.S. pressure and the way it views Iran,s nuclear ambitions prior the
crucial meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
-
- The U.S. classified presentation was made by officials
from the department lead by Robert Joseph, under-secretary for disarmament
and non-proliferation.
-
- Backed by Israel, the United States claims that Iran
has breached its nuclear promises to resume uranium enrichment at its facilities,
and that it seeks producing a nuclear bomb.
-
- Although India doesn,t have a nuclear relationship with
Iran, this hasn,t stopped it from getting caught in the diplomatic crossfire
as one of the three countries " others being China and Russia "
rejecting Iran,s referral to United Nations Security Council.
-
- But the Indian Prime Minister found it important to undertake
some damage-control in New York to clarify his country,s policy on Iran,
and present some justification for India,s ,"strategic" partnership
with the country.
-
- * Left's opposition
-
- India's Left parties launched a fierce criticism of the
government for voting for the EU resolution that calls for referring Iran
to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, saying that the decision
was taken under U.S. pressure.
-
- They also said that the government has abandoned India's
non-alignment doctrine.
-
- "We told the Prime Minister that you have come under
pressure of the United States. We are unhappy with the vote and think it
will hamper India-Iran diplomatic and economic relations ... the vote could
have been avoided and we have registered our strong protest," Revolutionary
Socialist Party MP and Central Committee member Abani Roy said.
-
- BJP leader Yashwant Sinha issued a statement saying that
the Indian government abandoned Iran to save its own controversial nuclear
deal with the U.S.
-
- "It is a pity that the Government of India decided
to vote for the EU resolution against Iran at the IAEA.
-
- "India's consistent position has been that issues
in Iran's nuclear programme should be resolved through discussions and
consensus and not through confrontation.
-
- "By voting for a resolution to refer the matter
to the United Nations Security Council, this avenue has been closed,"
he said.
-
- India has made it clear that it would never support proliferation
either by Iran or Pakistan, however it criticised the U.S. pressures against
its government. India sees it was unfair for Bush,s admin to use selective
leaks in the press to bring out spiteful editorials against India, apart
from officials hinting that India,s nuclear deal with the U.S. will be
under threat if New Delhi didn,t surrender to the American pressure.
-
- http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9610
|
