New Delhi
28 October 2005
For the first time, former diplomats on Friday came
together on a platform to question the wisdom of the Congress-led UPA
Government's decision to vote against Iran in the September 24 meeting
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Joining the diplomats, who served in the region, were analysts and
opinion-makers as they rallied against the foreign policy establishment
from Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran down and demanded that India
should not repeat the "avoidable blunder" when the IAEA Board of
Governors meets next on November 24.
Speaking at a day-long seminar on the theme of India's independent
foreign policy, former diplomats like MK Bhadrakumar, Akbar Khalili,
Satish Chandra and Hamid Ansari came out strongly against the Indian
vote and unanimously trashed the government for jettisoning the
traditional ties with Tehran in an attempt to "midwife" the India-US nuclear
deal.
Mr MK Bhadrakumar said there was no justification for one, the unseemly
hurry to vote and two, without taking Tehran into confidence. "By voting
[against Iran], India has tampered with the mutual trust and confidence,
which will take time to restore," he said.
Former deputy national security adviser, Mr Satish Chandra, oberved that
the India-Iran relations have been held hostage to the New Delhi-
Washington ties and that the explanation of the "unfair vote" against Iran
was "inept".
Former diplomat Akbar Khalili, who has served as Ambassador in Iran, in
turn said that the fear of an "Arab [nuclear] bomb" was the principal
reason for Washington's latest offensive on Iran.
Questioning the propensity of the Government to cite national interest to
preempt any discussion or debate on issues of a sensitive nature, Mr
Hamid Ansari said by getting India to vote, the US wanted to convey that
"India can be made to do certain things" and "put a spanner in India-Iran
relations."
A former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Dr A
Gopalakrishnan, noted that Iran could not be faulted for insisting on
uranium enrichment because the US has had a history of denying access
to fuel supply to countries including India, for the Tarapur plant.
The editor of The Hindu newspaper, Mr N Ram, said the UPA Government
had deviated from the national common minimum programme and went on
to add that there was a "credibility gap" in the foreign secretary, Mr
Shyam Saran's recent lecture. "We have every right to protest a policy
conceived in stealth," he observed.
CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan told reporters on the margins of the
seminar that the foreign secretary's lecture was the "lowest point in
India's foreign policy".
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