Indian PM To Go Ahead With Iran Visit

New Delhi, Mar 14, IRNA – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s much-anticipated visit to Iran this year can be expected to serve the dual purpose of maintaining India’s ties with Iran on an even keel and kick-starting peace talks with Pakistan. His visit to the Iranian capital will, literally, be couched in non alignment, coming as it will in the midst of a brewing crisis in West Asia, between Iran and Israel. Tehran will host the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in September. It will follow the visits by external affairs minister S.M. Krishna to Israel, and Defense Minister A. K. Antony to Saudi Arabia. Also, it will be the first visit by an Indian Premier to Iran in over a decade, after Atal Behari Vajpayee’s in 2001. According to a Asian Age report, Prime Minister Singh’s proposed visit to Tehran is being described as a manifestation of India’s balanced and equitable relationships with various protagonists in the region. A broad-based relationship with the region is a welcome shift in policy. India and Pakistan are among the 120 members of the NAM. Besides interacting with the host, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Prime Minister Singh is likely to re-engage his Pakistan counterpart, Yousaf Raza Gilani, on the margins of the summit. NAM, the largest political organization after the United Nations, have an active role in international affairs./end