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Gujarat incidents an aberration: MEA

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 18. In a damage control exercise, India has acknowledged the recent incidents of communal violence in Gujarat as an "aberration'', but has insisted that these cannot be cited to question the country's basic secular and pluralistic credentials.

Responding to questions on the international fallout of the communal riots in Gujarat, the External Affairs Ministry had over this week said that India's antecedents as a secular and "pluralistic democracy'' were recognised the world over The spokesperson's observations acquire significance in the backdrop of concerns expressed by several countries, including key members of the U.N. Security Council as well as the European Union, over the Gujarat situation. The United States, while lauding India as a "multi-ethnic and secular'' nation, had, nevertheless, pointed to the futility of the Gujarat violence. "This type of violence doesn't benefit anybody and it simply results in loss of life'', a State Department spokesperson recently said. China, on its part, hoped that "India will maintain social stability and unity among various ethnic groups'', while the European Union pointed to the importance of protecting minorities and upholding human rights.

The MEA maintains that normality is fast returning to the State and has asked its missions to convey this message to the Governments abroad. Embassies have been told to buttress their assertions by pointing to the higher secondary examinations being held in the State, in which 8,25,000 students are appearing. They have also been told to highlight the fact that the share prices of Government-owned companies, including pharmaceutical companies, have not fallen. While the Government has chosen not to react sharply to the remarks made by most foreign Governments, it has taken strong exception to a recent statement by the Pakistan foreign office, which attacked the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, over the Gujarat developments.

Apart from the "unwarranted personal comments'' about the Prime Minister, the foreign office spokesperson, in a statement, said that India found it "astonishing that the mouthpiece of the military regime, which has overthrown democracy and is pursuing plans for a fictional democracy with all powers and control vested in the army through a constitutionally suspect referendum, should be accusing others of being reactionary.''

Pakistan "should seek to address the religious bigotry practised in its society, where followers of other religions or even sects of Islam are not allowed the freedom of their religious beliefs''

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