Blaming Iran: Govt plays safe, says no evidence of any country role yet - Indian Express
The government today said that it did not have evidence of any country, organisation, entity or individuals being involved in the attack on the Israel Embassy car.
In an attempt to put an end to speculation of an “Iranian hand”, as alleged by Israel, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said: “We have no information or evidence of any country, organisation, entity and individual being involved.”
Government sources also said that “so far” they had found nothing to connect Iran to the attack that took place near Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence on February 13.
The Iran Embassy has reportedly also not got in touch with New Delhi on the matter, and Ambassador Syed Mehdi Nabizadeh today stressed that Tehran will “verify” the allegations regarding the attack only if Indian security agencies asked it do so.
“It (incident) has happened in India. If Indian security said something like that (then) we have to verify... This (the allegations) is false and they (Israel) always keep feeding such a thing,” Nabizadeh told reporters.
“We hope India will verify the case to know the real position. Till now, their final reaction has not come.”
The Ambassador added that he refused to “accept” or “deny” its role in the attack, that left four injured, including the wife of a defence attache at the Israeli Embassy in Delhi. “We are not accepting or denying this. I don’t know how can we assume within short moment who has done this,” the Iranian envoy said.
Adding that bilateral ties between India and Iran were “good”, Nabizadeh said “no third country” can put hurdle in the relationship. “It (the relationship with India) is good and it should be better. Iran and India have good relations. Both governments would be collaborating with each other much better than before.”
Israel’s ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz — who has been reiterating the allegations against Iran since the attack — today met External Affairs minister S M Krishna. This was their first meeting since the incident, although National Security Advisor Shivshanker Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai had spoken to him earlier.
Sources said that the Israeli side asked for additional security for its Embassy personnel in Delhi and Mumbai, and security agencies have been asked to make arrangements and cooperate with them. On the involvement of Israeli investigators, sources said that if the Israeli side wanted a reassurance like that, it was their choice.
Pakistanis also believe India was behind the attack on Sri Lankan cricket players in Pakistan a few years ago to sour the relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but they are still our good friends.
