The Hindu : National : Give clear statement on NAM, Left asks Government

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Saturday, Jun 30, 2007
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Give clear statement on NAM, Left asks Government

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday asked the Manmohan Singh Government to come out with a clear and categorical statement that India did not need to be lectured on its foreign policy and reiterated its commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

“That the United States has been hostile to the Non Aligned Movement is well known. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice using the platform of the U.S.-India Business Council to decry the NAM and brand it irrelevant has a specific motive,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said.

In a statement, the Polit Bureau said NAM was a movement that stood for the defence of national sovereignty of nations and for a more equitable world order, in contrast to the United States’ striving for domination.

“The United States is signalling to India not to play an active role in NAM, which has got Cuba as its current chairman. The message is being conveyed along with the assurance that the nuclear cooperation agreement can be finalised provided India understands the parameters of the ‘strategic alliance’ with the United States,” it said.

The UPA Government, the statement said, should also realise that the country was closely watching the course of the nuclear cooperation talks and would not countenance any compromise under U.S. pressure.

In its statement, the CPI said India is a sovereign country and knew what was in its best interest. As a co-founder of NAM, it continued to be one of the leaders of the movement which was as relevant now as it was in the past.

It said NAM had to express solidarity and rally in support of smaller countries that were the victims of attack and aggression by the imperial powers such as the United States. NAM had to play a leading role in helping these countries develop and protect them from the economic domination and national sovereignty and work for a new world economic order.

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