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Gujarat: Remarks by visiting leaders
irk India

"We would like to make clear that India does not appreciate interference in our internal affairs, including utilisation of the Indian media by foreign leaders as well as by visiting dignitaries, to make public statements in order to pander to their domestic lobbies," external affairs ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said.

New Delhi's sharp comments followed an interview to an Indian English daily given by visiting Finland Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. He said that the violence in Gujarat were a matter of great concern and that the "pictures of carnage are very disturbing".

India had lodged an official protest with Finland over the issue, Rao said.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca, on a visit to New Delhi last week had termed the events in Gujarat as "horrible".

New Delhi also proposed to take up with the European Union "very shortly" a document finalised by it where it had reportedly observed that the carnage in Gujarat was a kind of apartheid and having parallels with Nazi Germany of the 1930s.

Asked what India's response would be if the United Nations, of which India is a member, were to speak in a similar vein, the spokesperson said New Delhi's approach would be made perfectly clear.

"Our response to such statements would be that the Government of India is taking all necessary steps to deal with the situation," Rao said.

"India, as a pluralistic democracy, always respected the diversity of religious beliefs," she said

"India has the resilience and that essential fact has to be recognised by the international community. That is our effort and that is our continuing approach on the issue," she said.

PTI

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