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US envoy's Iran remarks spark national outrage New Delhi | January 27, 2006 1:15:14 AM IST US ambassador David Mulford's reported remarks linking India's stand on the Iranian nuclear issue with the nuclear energy deal with the US Thursday threatened to snowball into a national outrage with politicians across the spectrum slamming the "arm-twisting" and New Delhi ticking off the envoy for his comments. Despite it being a national holiday because of Republic Day, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran summoned Mulford to his South Block office Thursday afternoon and told him the remarks made by him in an interview to PTI were "inappropriate" and "not conducive to a strong partnership between two independent democracies". Even as political parties and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee slammed the remarks, the government hit back and stoutly resisted any American attempt to influence India's stance on Iran's alleged nuclear defiance ahead of an emergency meeting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna next week. This crucial meeting will decide on referring Tehran to the UN Security Council for its alleged violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). "The foreign secretary informed the US ambassador that India's vote on any possible resolution on the Iranian issue at the IAEA would be determined by India's own judgment of the merits of the case," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said after the Saran-Mulford meeting. Referring to the India-US civil nuclear energy cooperation deal, Saran reminded Mulford of "the spirit of the July 18, 2005 joint statement" signed in Washington during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit and said its implementation should be based on "strict reciprocity." Mulford, however, went into damage-control mode and expressed his "sincere regrets", saying his remarks had been taken "out of context" and it "wasn't his intention to question India's right to take decisions on the basis of its national interest". Mulford, in the PTI interview, had said: "If it (India) opposes Iran having nuclear weapons, we think they should record it in the vote." Mulford was also reported as saying that he had conveyed to India that if New Delhi did not vote for the resolution, "the effect on members of the US Congress with regard to (the India-US) civil nuclear initiative will be devastating". Saran and Muflord agreed that the two sides would work together for the "successful visit" of US President George Bush in early March. Vajpayee termed Mulford's remarks as "outrageous", saying they "violate all diplomatic norms". "It is worse that these were made in his personal capacity. Ambassadors are not required to make personal remarks denigrating their host country," Vajpayee maintained in an unusually strongly worded statement. He described as "routine" Wednesday's reaction of the external affairs ministry to Mulford's remarks. "It hardly expresses the indignation of the people of the sovereign and independent republic of India," Vajpayee added. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also took umbrage at the envoy's remarks, terming them as a "serious affront" to India and its sovereignty. In a statement, the party said that Mulford's remarks "confirm that the Indian government was pressurised on Sep 25, 2005 to vote against Iran in the IAEA." "It also raises serious apprehensions regarding the nuclear cooperation deal being negotiated with the US," the party said. The CPI-M is the largest of the Left parties that prop up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday the US would "certainly encourage" India to vote to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council and hinted the way New Delhi acts would impact on the future of its civil nuclear deal with Washington. -- Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) -- Salaam ali kum. Gabe Menezes. London, England
