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India rejects both............. by Saima Alvi 30 April 2002 10:26 UTC |
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DAWN INTERNET EDITION (dawn.com) 25 April 2002 Thursday ------------------------------------- India rejects both EU's criticism of its handling of anti-Muslim pogroms & demands for internal, neutral probe ------------------------------------- By Jawed Naqvi NEW DELHI, April 24: Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani ruled out on Wednesday a neutral probe by a serving Supreme Court judge into the Gujarat carnage even as the Indian government grappled with a growing chorus of anxious voices of foreign governments and the European Union that have slammed in one way or another New Delhi's tardy handling of the anti-Muslim pogroms in the border state. The Ministry of External Affairs, apparently seeking to blame the boots for the faults of the feet, said: "We note with regret that some foreign missions in India continue to interfere in the already vigorous democratic debate going on in our country, at all levels of Indian society, on the situation in Gujarat by deliberately leaking their internal reports or making substantive political comments on the subject." The ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said: "Our parliament, the political parties, the courts, the National Human Rights Commission, the Minorities Commission, the media, the intellectuals and the NGOs are all seized with or debating openly and freely in minute detail the developments in Gujarat. This reflects the strength of our democracy and attachment to certain principles of governance enshrined in our Constitution." Rao accused some foreign countries and missions in Delhi of injecting themselves into the highly politically charged internal debate in the country, saying that they were "creating an impression of playing a partisan role." But the foreign governments were not evidently impressed by the disapproving tone. The Times of India said on Wednesday: "Rejecting the Indian government's position that the Gujarat violence is an 'internal affair' of the country, the European Union intends to undertake a demarche to the government to express concern over the incidents in the state." The assessment that the violence is not an internal affair was arrived at after numerous fact-finding visits by EU member countries to Gujarat and the perusal of material that indicated the response of the state had been violative of international law, EU sources told the Times. A news report on the EU observation on Gujarat had led to a furore with the government's statement on Monday, saying "India does not appreciate interference in its internal affairs." Rejecting this contention, EU diplomats affirmed their right to comment and said the events in Gujarat constituted a threat to international order. Rao's reaction to the report was sharp. She said: "This is contradictory to well-established norms of diplomacy and injurious to the friendly relations that exist between India and the EU as well as individual European countries identified in the press as sources of leaks and political interference." Asked if New Delhi was intending to take any steps against the concerned countries, Rao said: "We are a civilized country. I don't know what kind of measures you are referring to and I think this is an occasion for the governments of the countries concerned to take stock and to pay careful heed to what the Government of India is saying on this issue and our statement here refers to the fact that there is a perfectly open, clear democratic debate going on in this country and there is no need, no warrant at all for external interference."
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