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India not holding any brief for Iran's nuke programme
New York, Sept. 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said today India was not holding any brief for Iran's nuclear programme and that it was not desirable to have another nuclear power state in the neighbourhood.Addressing a press conference before winding up his four-day visit to New York, Singh said that he did not see any crisis in India's relations with the US because of Iran's nuclear programme. The Prime Minister said Iran must fulfill its international obligations and that diplomacy must also be given maximum possible scope to resolve the issue of Tehran's nuclear programme. He maintained that there was no divergence of views between India and the US on the basic objectives as far as Iran was concerned but the question was about "tactics". Elaborating New Delhi's stand, Singh said India was located in the region neighbouring Iran and that there were three-and-a-half million workers in the Middle East and that India had the second largest Shia population in the world. Any flare up would create immense difficulties, he said. The Prime Minister said he had explained India's position to Bush and that the US understood "our concerns". Posted by: john 2005-09-16 |
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