NEW DELHI, 24 April 2008 — India has tartly dismissed American advice that it press Iran to give up its nuclear program, saying it does not need “any guidance on the future conduct” of its foreign relations.
The left bloc voiced its opposition to a US statement asking India to tell Iran to “meet requirements of the UN Security Council” concerning its nuclear program during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit next week.
In the Lok Sabha, legislator Rupchand Pal (Communist Party of India-Marxist) described the US statement as “audacious and arrogant.” It amounted to an “infringement on India’s sovereign position,” Pal said during the Zero Hour. With the US “pressurizing India on how it should conduct its bilateral relations with Iran, the government should make a statement in Parliament denouncing the (US) statement,” Pal said. The Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman had “rightly rebuffed” the American suggestion, Pal said.
India is negotiating a proposed $7 billion gas pipeline with Iran, and the project is expected to top discussions when President Ahmadinejad makes his first visit to the South Asian country next Tuesday. The United States strongly opposes the pipeline from Iran and accuses Tehran of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program and arming Iraqi militants. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.
US Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Monday in Washington that New Delhi should press Ahmadinejad to end Iran’s alleged nuclear program and aid to Iraqi militants. He also said India should tell the Iranian leader to stop supporting groups in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
India made clear Tuesday that it would make its own decisions.
“India and Iran are ancient civilizations whose relations span centuries,” the Foreign Ministry said in statement.
“Both nations are perfectly capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention,” it continued. “Neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of bilateral relations.” New Delhi and Washington are trying to finalize a landmark nuclear energy cooperation deal that has faced stiff opposition in India from communist political parties, which argue the pact would give the United States too much influence over Indian foreign policy.
The critics often cite a non-binding US law that would require the American president to determine if New Delhi was cooperating with efforts to shut down Iran’s atomic program.
While India-US nuclear cooperation would continue no matter what the president determined, the critics say the law is an attempt to dictate New Delhi’s foreign policy.
Three Militant Commanders Killed
Indian security forces shot dead three top commanders of the main militant group fighting to merge Indian Kashmir with Pakistan, police said yesterday.
Two of the militants were killed in a gunbattle while the third was shot dead in a separate incident nearby, they said.
“The (two) militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle with police and soldiers in Khawaja Bagh” north of the summer capital Srinagar, senior superintendent of police Anand Jain told AFP.
The fighting erupted early yesterday and carried on for several hours until police and soldiers raided a house where the rebels were hiding, Jain said. Two civilians were also wounded.
Both of the dead militants, district commander Tanveer Ahmed Zargar and his deputy Imtiyaz Khan, belonged to Hizbul Mujahedeen, Jain said.
