US blames 'inaccurate reporting' for Hazare misunderstanding

Washington, Aug 18 (PTI) The US has blamed "inaccurate
reporting" in India for creating an impression that it had
issued a strong statement on the anti-graft crusade led by
Anna Hazare there, contending that it supports freedom of
peaceful expression and non-violent protest across the globe.
"There was some extremely inaccurate reporting out of
India ... 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 last evening.
Nuland was responding to questions about the statement by
a Congress party spokesman suggesting that the US was
interfering in the internal affairs of India.
"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.
She 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, etcetera. 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.