India under pressure to stop Iran pipeline
By SEEMA MUSTAFA
New Delhi, July 31: Indiaâs relationship with Iran has come under the US scanner in the wake of the 123 agreement, with the government now under open pressure not to conclude the gas pipeline contract or activise the joint agreement with Iran for defence cooperation.
The Indian Navy has planned an ambitious programme of naval exercises in West Asia, but has taken care to exclude Iran despite a broader strategic partnership worked out between the two governments at high-level talks in 2003. The Indian naval ships will carry out exercises as well as port calls in West Asia, involving Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iran is not on the list and when asked about this assistant chief of naval staff looking after foreign cooperation and intelligence, Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, said, "We have not been able to generate an exercise schedule from Iran."
The Indian Navy will also carry out passage exercises during its West Asian programme with the navies of the UK and France, although the former is seen by the people of the region as an "occupying force" in Iraq. Asked about the strategic impact of this decision, Rear Admiral Chauhan said that the Navy was conscious of the sensitivities of the region and had planned the exercises not to disrupt, but to enhance foreign policy initiatives.
Petroleum minister Murli Deora, who was to have visited Pakistan this month for further discussions on the gas pipeline that the Iranians want to conclude by September, has not scheduled his visit. Sources had told this newspaper that the visit was to seal an understanding between Delhi and Islamabad on the transit fee, after which the three countries would be ready to sign a trilateral agreement. The US concerns about the India-Iran relationship have been recorded in the briefings to the media by both US undersecretary Nicholas Burns and the envoy to India, Mr David C. Mulford.
The American media has been carrying critical reports of Indiaâs relations with Iran after the 123 agreement was finalised, with the Wall Street Journal going as far as to say, "getting India to drop, and drop completely its presumptively ceremonial military ties to Iran isnât asking a lot" as the least that could be expected if "the (US) Congress is going to punch a hole in the NPT to accommodate India". Deputy chief of mission in Washington Raminder Jassal is reported in the newspaper as saying, "We are aware of our responsibilities and we know the danger of an Iran with nuclear weapons." He further said, "We know how to calibrate our relationship (with Iran) without compromising on essentials."
US point person for the nuclear deal Nicholas Burns in his briefing to American journalists on the 123 agreement had spent considerable time on Iran, in a bid to underplay Delhiâs relations with Iran. The Wall Street Journal, describing his views as a "Burnsian nugget", pointed towards US sanctions against two former chairmen of "Indiaâs state-run Nuclear Power Corporation for allegedly passing nuclear secrets to Tehran".
It also cited sanctions on two Indian companies for "selling Iran percursor chemicals for rocket fuel and chemical weapons" as part of its effort to build a case against the bilateral relations between Iran and India.
Mr Mulford made it very clear over a teleconference that the relations between India and Iran would be "carefully reviewed and scrutinised by members of the Congress as they approach the final vote".
The Hyde Act has set out the parameters that the 123 agreement has not changed as both Mr Burns and Mr Mulford have taken care to point out. Sources here said that the government has gone through the legal formality of seeking the approval of the Cabinet Committee for Security and Cabinet Committee for Political Affairs for the 123 agreement and is not required, technically, to seek the approval of Parliament.
The Bush administration, on the other hand, cannot take a step forward without the approval of the US Congress that has made clear its hyper-sensitivity towards the issues of non proliferation and Iran.
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