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ROUND THE WORLD
Winter Chill Sets In
DON’T FORGET IRAN, Mr
PM
By M D Nalapat
(Holds UNESCO Peace Chair, Prof, Geopolitics, Manipal Academy
of Higher Education, Ex-Resident Editor, Times of India,
Delhi)
New Delhi, November 26, 2007
TEHRAN: While Sonia Gandhi loves
holidaying in the European Union, Manmohan Singh's favourite
country is the US. Both as India's Finance Minister (1992-96)
and from 2004 onwards as Prime Minister, Singh has been
consistent in the belief that a Washington-set agenda is in
India’s best interests. Because the PM has followed in the
role of a White House crony, several countries otherwise
friendly to India have distanced themselves from the UPA-led
regime.
Russia made the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee
undergo the indignity of a body search at Moscow airport
recently, while Vladimir Putin declined to find the time to
meet with the visiting Indian Defence Minister, A K Antony, or
even to host a proper ceremonial dinner for Manmohan Singh
The mood in Moscow has not improved following the rebuff by
Manmohan Singh of Russia's efforts to sign a nuclear deal with
India that would enable the country to import four more
nuclear reactors from Moscow. A move that would reduce the
profits of US corporations eager to enter the Indian nuclear
energy sector on advantageous terms.
Putin’s Generous Offer
Three years ago, Putin had offered a nuclear deal with India
on far more lenient terms than that mandated by the US
Congress, but this generous offer was spurned by Singh in
favour of the 2005 understanding with George Bush. Two weeks
ago, the Bush-backing Indian Prime Minister once again refused
to agree to the Russian reactor deal, although Moscow would
certainly have ensured the supply of uranium, the way it did
at Tarapur.
Incidentally, huge piles of radioactive waste are accumulating
in Tarapur because Manmohan Singh is afraid to annoy George
Bush by re-processing that into usable fuel that would remove
the shortage currently faced by India’s nuclear energy
programme. And in a snub to Russia, Singh spent a mere 28
hours in Moscow, as opposed to his week-long official visit to
the US.
However, Moscow is not the only country that has been
downgraded by Manmohan Singh. Another Indian "strategic
partner”, Iran, has been given even more frosty treatment,
with key negotiations stalled. Under the UPA, India even voted
in the IAEA along with the US and the EU to block Iran's
nuclear programme, rather than join other Asian states in
abstaining or backing Tehran.
The Prime Minister has also refused to allow the Petroleum
Minister Murli Deora to join Pakistan and Iran in implementing
the gas pipeline project, or even to suggest an alternative
under-sea route. In contrast, India has moved ahead on an
alternative pipeline that its US backers hope would link
Central Asia to itself via Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan
known to be outside the control of non-jihadist forces.
Tehran & Moscow Infuriated
This pipeline has been touted by the same US team that oversaw
Washington's backing for the Taliban during 1994-96. The move
by the UPA has infuriated both Tehran and Moscow, which now
sees the Sonia-led ruling coalition as having joined Kabul and
Baghdad in following the US lead on all major policies.
Small wonder that there has been an early winter chill in
relations between India and Iran, despite past cooperation in
Afghanistan and Central Asia, and the provision of a land
route for Indian produce through Iran to Central Asia and
Afghanistan, the shorter alternative having been blocked by US
ally Pakistan.
Last year, while more than 25,000 visas were given to Iranian
nationals to visit India, less than 4,500 Indians were
permitted into Iran, most of them pilgrims visiting Shia
religious places. And although Iran has three cultural centres
in India (Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi), the Ahmedinejad
Government has refused the persistent Indian request to open
at least a single Indian Cultural Centre in Tehran.
The mullahcracy has also banned Indian movies from entering
the country, although this prohibition is being flouted daily
by Iranian citizens, who buy CDs of Indian films by the
hundreds of thousands. So negative is the present regime in
Tehran to anything Indian that they have refused permission to
the Indian Embassy to organize an India Cultural Week in Iran,
while pressing for sanction to hold a month-long Iran Cultural
Festival in India.
Besides, while more than 9,000 Iranian students now study in
Indian universities, there are less than a couple of hundred
Indian students in Iran, most of them in religious
institutions of learning. And although Emperor Shah Jehan was
of Persian origin, the Iranian authorities have barred the
entry of the film about the Taj Mahal, the monument built by
Shah Jehan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Certainly, the
movie’s director Akbar Khan cannot be accused of hostility
towards Islam.
Dept. Shut Down
A few months ago, the only department of Indian studies in
Tehran University was shut down by the mullahcracy, who regard
the moderate ethos of the world's biggest democracy with
suspicion. Notwithstanding the fact that the mullahcracy in
Tehran has done severe damage to Iran, by enforcing an
economic regime as harmful as the permit-license raj in India
during the 1960s and 1970s.
Also, the Iranian regime has embarked on a foreign policy that
is both provocative and unwise, seeking to alter a status quo
that almost every other country in the region has accepted.
Until Iran changes such a self-destructive approach, there is
no doubt that India should avoid any sort of military ties
with Tehran.
However, economic relations should be given a much higher
priority than the UPA has done, and in case there is a US-EU
attack on Iran, the national interest demands that New Delhi
refuse to participate in this in any form. Ultimately, New
Delhi should seek a Tehran-Jakarta-New Delhi partnership on
the lines of that with Brazil and South Africa that can act as
a moderating and stabilizing force in the world. ----- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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