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We can’t follow Bush administration time table on nuclear deal: Karat

NEW DELHI: Ahead of a meeting between the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the Left parties on June 18 on the India-U.S. nuclear deal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat asserted that the Left parties would not be pressured into giving the go-ahead for the deal.

“We can’t follow the Bush administration’s time table,” he said, when asked about reports that the U.S. wanted the deal to go through before the present regime there under President George Bush stepped down later this year.

Mr. Karat was speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of a meeting organised to mark the 60 years of ‘Nakba catastrophe’ and the occupation and resistance in Palestine.

In his address at the meeting, Mr. Karat emphasised that there was a need to continue with the struggle and fight to “disentangle” India from the U.S.-Israel-India axis, which has developed since 1990s, with the formation of a security and military alliance with Israel during the visit of the then Home Minister, L.K.Advani, to Israel and its continuation during the past four years of the UPA government.

He pointed out that in a deliberate move, in the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government, there was a clear absence of any mention of a strategic alliance with either Israel or the U.S.

He charged that the government did not follow up on this and instead continued to pursue the strategic alliance with Israel, which came under the overarching strategic alliance with U.S.

The Left parties could not compromise on this issue, he stressed. The parties would continue their fight and struggle to build up a people’s movement to ensure that India continued with its traditional policy for peace in west Asia, with justice for the people of Palestine and that there was no adverse effect on India’s long term interests and its foreign policy.

Communist Party of India general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, expressed concern that the UPA government had been continuing to extend support to Israeli government despite it not implementing any of the resolutions of the United Nation’s Security Council on Palestine and continuing to violate international law.

In particular, he referred to the launch of a spy satellite of Israel by the Indian Space Research Organisation recently and said though it was termed as a commercial venture, in reality it went against the long held principles of India to promote peace and support for the cause of Palestinians and their own homeland.

“We are not against jews or Israel per se. We only want that there was justice for Palestinians.”

Nationalist Congress Party Secretary, D.P. Tripathi, reiterated the support of his party for measures to ensure that the people of Palestine, who had been subjected to suppression and oppression, got justice.

Mr. Karat, Mr. Bardhan and Mr. Tripathi endorsed an appeal by Issam Makhoul, Politburo Member of the Israeli Community Party for a joint campaign to develop strategic relationships between the people of India and Palestinians living in Israel. Mr. Mahoul, who participated in the function as a special guest, presented an account of the plight of Palestinians living in Israel.

The function was organised by the Committee for an Independent Foreign Policy and the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation.

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