World Affairs Board - View Single Post - 'Govt should abstain if no consensus on Iran'

Gautam · 01-28-2006, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Making their stand clear, Left parties on Saturday demanded the Government to abstain from voting if consensus eludes next week's crucial IAEA meeting on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

"Our considered opinion continues to be that in consonance with the UPA Government's commitment to the pursuit of an independent foreign policy, if a consensus is lacking on the issue at the IAEA meeting, India should abstain," they said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The parties, which provide key outside support to the Government, said a "principled Indian position" that calls for talks within the ambit of IAEA for resolving Iran's nuclear issue will help in averting a spurt in tension in the region, where millions of Indian nationals live and work.

"A principled Indian position that upholds the need to seek a resolution of the Iran nuclear issue through negotiations within the framework of the IAEA will contribute towards averting an escalation of tensions in an already volatile region," CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP said in the letter.

Asserting that a consensus is lacking on the issue, they said there was "profound disquiet" among the international community, especially Russia, China and the Non-aligned nations, that the US instead of supporting efforts to explore various avenues to resolve the matter is precipitating a United Nations Security Council referral.
"The US strategy holds disturbing parallels with the Iraq crisis in the 2002-03 period in so far as a calibrated build up of confrontation was eventually seized as pretext for making unilateral moves against Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the letter said.

They said the Russian-Iranian discussions in Moscow on February 16 should be allowed to proceed without hindrance and moreover the IAEA Director General's report on cooperation with Iran is still awaited.

"Apart from these considerations, India cannot but factor in traditionally friendly ties with Iran, which has immese potential of expansion in various mutually benefical directions, expecially in the field of energy cooperation, that will also strengthen regional stability on the whole," it said.

The Left parties had on Friday asked the Government to not vote in favour of any resolution that proposes referral of Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.

About time we played the abstain game