Following the American Jewish Committee’s bluntly-worded weekend letter to Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the United States, one of the authors of the letter, AJC Executive Director David Harris has said to The Hindu that India could seek to source its energy needs from other West Asian nations but not Iran.
“As for energy sources, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, and other oil-exporting countries are creating a sufficient swing capacity to make up for any lost Iranian oil,” Mr. Harris said in an emailed statement.
While he admitted that the AJC understood that India had geopolitical interests in the region and energy needs for its surging economy that were quite specific, he added that “nuclear-aspiring Iran poses a profound threat to the region and the world.”
When asked whether Israel would be in any position to compensate for lost Iranian oil should India curtail its ties with Iran, Mr. Harris said, “I wish that Israel were in this category of energy-exporting nations, and thus in a position to assist its friend, India. That day may come in the not-too-distant future, but, alas, it is not here yet.”
Along with his colleague and president Robert Elman, Mr. Harris had said in their letter to Ms. Rao that New Delhi was attempting to take advantage of sanctions adopted by like-minded nations for the explicit purpose of preventing nuclear proliferation by a “dangerously aggressive regime.”
In that letter the AJC heads had cited the case of Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, who reportedly said that “a huge delegation” of Indian business representatives would soon travel to Iran to capitalise on opportunities created by European withdrawal from the Iranian market.
Mr. Harris said to The Hindu that even such attempts to deepen Indian ties with Iran may fail. “Why, in any case, would India seek risky contracts in Iran that may not materialize because of the inherent instability of the situation?” he asked.
This article has been corrected for factual errors.
It is explicitly evident from the letter that, again these like
minded western power along with Israel is committed toward pressuring India through diplomacy and lobbying to sever its long history of
amicable and friendly relationship with Iran. India exports major bulk
of oil from Iran amounting to around 12% and any turbulence in ties
will jeopardize India's energy interest and long term economic goal,
moreover Iran and India share a traditional ties. I strongly feel
that it is the test for India's foreign policy.It's for our political
leadership to decide whether they want to compromise with national
and strategic interest thus serving as a cheese ball to western power
or to rally around a old ally by alleviating the crisis by assuming a
role of piece maker between the two world and thereby stabilizing the
region.
This is unwarranted on the part of the Jews, no one should ever be
given an iota of impression that any person or State can dictate
terms, expressly or by implication to the Sovereign State of India in
any of it's internal or external matters, we are independent people
and have prudent think tanks to care for our State and it's matters.
In my view the Govt. must not remain silent on the issue and give a
clear & strong diplomatic reply to them so that no one ever again
dares to dictate terms to us.
India should send a strong reply saying that it can take care of its own economic and foreign policies. AJC better worry about US and other EU countries who are diving into deep economic crisis day by day.
We being a sovereign, independent, republic country no other country or its citizens can dictate us what our foreign or economic policy should be. It’s not proper even to entertain such reactions about our relation with any other country in the world. We being a non-align country for a long time have proved this to the world many times and are still doing. Everything done is in interest of India and its citizens so, go on and take advantage of the situation.
What a tregedy and travesty it is that an association of a small minority like American Jewish Council,would have the audacity to dictate to a nation of one billion people like India, that it should not buy oil from Iran,which for centuries has had cultural and historical relatinships with India!
Does the AJC also take it for granted that India is a spineless country, governed by a coalition of weaklings,who have little self-respect?
I wonder why you publish such a pointless interview.
AJC should read the recent comments by former Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia to the BBC. The West is failing due to mockery and double standard policies. Except the current Indian regime that has tarnished India's reputaion by collaborating with the Sri Lankan regime in committing human rights abuses against the minority Tamils, India is rich in culture and values. Israel's behaviour and treatment of the Palestinians are well known all over world and one may wonder whether India needs to listen to the AJC?
Iran is an ancient civilisation and the people there are more civilized than the ones threatening them. That country was driven to the rule of religious people, to prevent the country becoming a socialist republic, by the same powers now threatening them. In the history of over 100 s of years there has been no instance of Iran attacking any other country. Iran as many other countries in the world do not accept the way the country of Israel was formed by displacing Palestinians in to refugees. Even India did not have any diplomatic ties with Israel till Rajeev Gandhi, whose knowledge of history could not have been significant, established diplomatic ties. Hence it cannot be too difficult to understand and appreciate the position of Iran in the Israel-Palestinian issue, even if one may disapprove of it. The current militaristic posture of America and Israel, who forces Europe in to supporting their position, is an un-necessary provocation. Iran is a country that has signed up for IAEA inspection unlike the nuclear powers such as Israel, India and Pakistan. So it is ridiculously hypocritical for such countries to criticise Iran. If one read the comments of IAEA it is very clear that they have not found any evidence for Iranians developing nuclear weapons. The problem with the IAEA is that they are heavily biased against Iran and towards USA-Israel that they keep on stating that Iran needs to prove that the rumours that they receive from opponents of Iran are proved negative. This is an impossible task. This is similar to a tactic they used against Iraq. India has to show the courage to stand up to the international bullies and pursue a truly independent foreign policy like China. If IAEA cannot find any proof against Iranians developing atomic weapons, they have to say so. If even after inspections and finding no evidence they have a problem trusting Iran, they need to ask themselves whether they are qualified to do the job. Probably many of the inspectors in the IAEA may be in the wrong job or need help.
It is comical, to say the least, to see that the "American Jewish Committee" (whatever that is), finds itself qualified to advise the Indian Govt, as to what should be its policy toward Iran. That they had the audacity to assume that they have a say in how foreign policies of nations with respect to the Gulf should be governed, is ludicrous. It is high time that someone in our Govt makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that no outsider, especially, the US, is to interfere with our foreign policy. Interstingly, the US treats the Saudis their close allies.
It is quite clear from the report that Jewish community does not care about others prosperity. None of European countiries as well as USA will bow down to any pressure where there interest is at stake. I think countires like Inida, Brazil, China, Turkey and other developing countries should come forward and take the humanity to prosperity rather than bullying others for selffishness. India has great opportunities in strengthning its business and it should not listen to anyone els and should work within law as it has been doing.
US Jewish community should prevail upon US government to sell to India against Rupee and then use Indian currency to buy goods and services from India at least partly but substantially in a calibrated so that Indian currency does not tumble down abnormally like Chinese currency. That will facilitate INDO-US trade. India then could use dollars saved to and earned from trade from other sources to open up it's economy especially the futuristic technology and infrastructure sector.
And once again, shamelessly, our esteemed politicians and bureaucrats will fall all over themselves to satisfy these zionists. The gigantic persona of a Nehru is sorely missing. We are a nation of babus willingly giving up our hard fought independence to a few thugs.
India's strategic interests in areas like energy, human resource, trade and commerce etc from the gulf countries are not only multidimensional but also historic. As far as Iran is concerned, India is it's second largest source of crude and has an innovative rupee mechanism avenue for payments which is sure to benefit India immensely if only the government develops some shrewd business sense. India is free to follow it's own policy regarding the country's energy needs and should not be bowed by any lobby centers.
American Jewish Council - sums up everything that is wrong with the Middle East today. How can they tell us how to go about our foreign policy? This is just ludicrous. Why did The Hindu even bother to print this?
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