The Hindu : Front Page : Let Parliament debate Iran issue: Left

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 06, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Let Parliament debate Iran issue: Left

K.V. Prasad

Says India's vote against Iran "not in conformity" with the pursuit of an independent foreign policy

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Sunday said India's vote against Iran in reporting the nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council was "not in conformity" with the pursuit of an independent foreign policy and maintaining good relations with Teheran. It demanded a full debate in Parliament on the issue.

"We are confident that when the matter is discussed objectively and dispassionately in Parliament, the Government of India will listen and take a decision [ahead of the March 2 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency]," Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat told presspersons after a meeting of four Left parties here.

The Left reiterated that India should neither be a party to any referral to the Security Council nor countenance any recommendation for taking action through the Council. They said the resolution adopted by the IAEA board on Saturday to "report" the Iran nuclear issue to the Council was questionable. Such a move would not be helpful now in resolving the issue through negotiations within the framework of the IAEA, a joint statementsaid.

"In this context, the stand taken by India is not in conformity with the pursuit of an independent foreign policy and the maintenance of good relations with Iran, which is in our national interests, about which the Left parties have repeatedly pointed out."

NAM role hailed

The Left appreciated the role of the non-aligned group of countries, who made sustained efforts to dissuade the IAEA from adopting threatening moves against Iran. They said the Director-General's report would be taken up in the March meeting of the IAEA and the stand taken by India at the meeting would be crucial.

On the Manmohan Singh Government's "regrettable stance of succumbing to U.S. pressures" on the issue and the stand India should take in the IAEA meeting, the Left demanded a full debate in the budget session of Parliament.

On the stand of the Opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, Mr. Karat said the party now talked of an independent foreign policy. When in power it did everything to undermine the foreign policy and turned completely pro-United States.

Airports privatisation

On the issue of airports privatisation, the Left took stock of the developments and economic policies. They expressed deep concern at the manner in which the Government was going ahead with the policies of privatisation and the recourse to foreign direct investment in certain vital sectors.

Mr. Karat said that some policies were contrary to the National Common Minimum Programme and the interests of the people. The Left leaders would discuss the matter among within their parties and take it up at their next meeting.

The Sunday meeting came in the backdrop of New Delhi's vote against Iran as also the move to privatise the Delhi and Mumbai airports, which led to a strike by employees of the Airports Authority of India.

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