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India rejects U.S. advice on Iran

NEW DELHI: India has rejected the United States’ advice on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s brief visit to New Delhi on April 29.

Reacting strongly to State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey’s observations in Washington on Tuesday, the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said India could do without any guidance in the matter.

Refuting the official American presumption to advice New Delhi, the spokesman said : “It is important that the genius of each nation living in a particular region is respected and allowed to flower to meet the expectations of enriching relations with neighbours.”

Mr. Casey said Washington wanted India to talk tough with Iran during the Iranian President’s visit, hoping it would ask Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities in line with the U.N. Security Council’s demands.

“Washington would also encourage New Delhi to ask Iran to “become a more responsible actor on the world stage” by ending its “rather unhelpful activities” regarding Iraq and support for terrorism, Mr. Casey told reporters. He, however, said it was up to India to decide how to manage its bilateral ties with Iran.

The spokesman said:

“Our attention has been drawn to a comment made by the official spokesman of the U.S. State Department concerning the visit of President Ahmadinejad to India. India and Iran are ancient civilisations whose relations span centuries.

“Both nations are perfectly capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention. The situation in the region has always drawn the attention of both the nations and it can be seen perfectly well that these have been managed through continuous dialogue and exchange of delegations at various levels.

“Neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of bilateral relations as both countries believe that engagement and dialogue alone lead to peace.”

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