Indian newspapers hit out on Friday at the United States envoy to New Delhi, who warned a landmark nuclear deal could be scuppered if India votes against referring Iran’s nuclear programme to the United Nations Security Council.
In an editorial titled “Reject the American fatwa,” The Hindu newspaper said US ambassador David Mulford had “outrageously crossed the line of diplomatic propriety”.
In an editorial entitled “David as Goliath”, The Indian Express newspaper said Mulford’s comments stood as a “fine demonstration of how not to be a diplomat”.
The media backlash came after India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran summoned Mulford on Thursday to tell him his remarks were “inappropriate and not conducive to building a strong partnership between the two democracies”.
The Indian Express also quoted unnamed Indian officials in a separate article as saying New Delhi would tell Washington that such “insensitive views” could undermine the visit of US President George Bush to India in March.
On Wednesday, Mulford said India could lose out on the nuclear deal with the US signed in July if it did not vote to refer Iran to the UN Security Council at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on February 2.
The bilateral deal would give India access to civilian nuclear technology it has long been denied. The accord has been agreed in principle, but still must be approved by the US Congress and the 44-member Nuclear Suppliers Group.
If India decides not to vote to send Iran to the UN Security Council, “I think the Congress will simply stop considering the matter. I think the initiative will die in the Congress,” Mulford told the Press Trust of India.
The Hindu countered: “Today it is a fatwa on Iran, tomorrow it will be a diktat on India’s plan to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities.”
India has said its decision on how to vote on the Iran nuclear issue within the IAEA would be based on its “own independent judgement”.
Mulford later said his remarks were “taken out of context” and expressed “sincere regrets.”
US attempts to link the nuclear deal to whether India supports the referral of Iran to the UN Security Council have prompted fury from political parties.
Former Hindu nationalist premier Atal Behari Vajpayee condemned Mulford’s remarks as “outrageous,” saying they “violated” all diplomatic norms.
The communist backers of the ruling Congress party have called Mulford’s remarks a “serious affront” to India and its sovereignty. – AFP