NEW DELHI, 25 September 2005 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has advised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to make concessions and adopt a “flexible approach” in order to avoid a confrontation with the US and European Union negotiators on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
Manmohan gave this advice when Ahmadinejad called him up over the phone Friday night to discuss the issue of Iran’s nuclear program that is before the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s top nuclear watchdog.
“The prime minister received a phone call from President Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Iranian request. The president raised the issue about Iran’s nuclear program in the IAEA,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement late Friday night.
Manmohan counseled Iran to make concessions so as to avert a confrontation with the US and the EU top three — Britain, France and Germany — which wanted to report Tehran to the UN Security Council for its violations of treaty obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“The prime minister advised him that Iran should consider taking a flexible position so as to avoid a confrontation. The prime minister repeated the necessity for Iran to make concessions to this end,” the ministry’s statement added. India has backed Tehran’s peaceful civil nuclear energy program but has stressed that Iran must fulfill its international obligations under the NPT.
External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and his counterparts — Li Zhaoxing of China and Sergei Lavrov of Russia — met in New York early this week and backed a consensual approach for the resolution of the issue within the framework of the IAEA.
India is a member of the 35-member board of governors of the IAEA.
Natwar Singh, in his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday also stressed the importance of engaging in intensive diplomatic efforts to evolve an international consensus on Iran’s nuclear program. Manmohan’s advice to Iran “to make concessions” to avoid a confrontation is seen here as an attempt to placate the US which made it an issue during Manmohan’s meeting with President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
With hearings currently under way in the US Congress on granting India special concessions to enable it to access civilian nuclear technology, there is a growing perception that Washington is trying to make nuclear concessions conditional on New Delhi’s support for the US campaign to diplomatically isolate Tehran.
In an unrelated development, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said newspapers should not be merely platforms of entertainment and gossip but contribute to the nation’s intellectual vibrancy.
“They (the newspapers) cannot be mere platforms of entertainment and gossip. They cannot be purveyors of prejudice,” Manmohan Singh said while addressing a gathering on the occasion of The Tribune newspaper’s 125th anniversary here.
“They must serve a larger purpose. Above all, they must contribute to a nation’s intellectual vibrancy,” he said.
Pointing out that the media had a crucial role to play in shaping public opinion and attitudes, the prime minister said it should keep the readers in step with economic development.
