US blames inaccurate reporting for Hazare misunderstanding From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Aug 17 (PTI) The US Wednesday said it
supports freedom of peaceful expression and non-violent
protest everywhere in the world, but blamed "inaccurate
reporting" in India for creating an impression that Washington
had issued a strong statement on anti-graft protests there.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland refuted
reports that the US had given any statement in direct support
of Anna Hazare's movement, that had prompted a strong reaction
by India.
In fact, Congress Wednesday lashed out at Washington,
with its spokesperson Rashid Alvi in New Delhi asking 'what
was the need for the US to give such a statement?'
"There was some extremely inaccurate reporting out of
India yesterday or today that the United States had issued
some sort of strong statement, which we did not issue. The
only statement about India yesterday to my knowledge was the
one that we made from the podium here," State Department
spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily
news conference.
Nuland was responding to questions about the statement by
the Congress spokesman suggesting that the US was interfering
in the internal affairs of the country.
"I think this goes to inaccurate reporting in India that
we had issued some sort of statement on -- with regard to this
case that we did not issue. With regard to the case, however,
you know where we are. We support freedom of expression and
assembly. And we encourage all countries and all parties to do
the same," Nuland said.
Nuland said all democratic governments have a
responsibility to allow peaceful protest and freedom of
dissent, even as they work to maintain public safety, and
India is a country that has a strong and long-established
democratic tradition, to which people look up to.
"It has a long tradition of non-violent protest. And it's
widely admired for these things and open debate. And that's
the standard that we -- we all have come to expect from
India," Nuland said.
"I hope you heard, in the statement made yesterday, the
statement just made, with regard to India, the same underlying
principles with regard to the strong, vibrant democracy of
India as we hope for in the transitional countries that we're
working with, Egypt, Tunisia, et cetera. In all countries, the
US supports peaceful freedom of expression, non-violent
protest," Nuland said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not spoken to her
Indian counterpart in the last couple of days. "Obviously, our
embassy has been enunciating these same principles," she said.
"We support the principle of freedom of assembly, right
of
non-violent protest in democracies around the world and in
countries around the world, the universal principle," Nuland
said when asked if her comments were general in nature or
specific to the movement of Anna Hazare.