Iran Parliament Speaker's Consultant Meets Indian Foreign Secretary

New Delhi, Dec 29, IRNA – Iran's Parliament Speaker's International Affairs Consultant Hossein Seheikholeslam who is here to participate at a conference on Afghanistan met Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai. According to IRNA, Seheikholeslam in the meeting appreciated India's stand on Syria, adopted during the Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this week, informing the Indian top diplomat of the latest sands of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Syrian, as well as Afghanistan developments. Condemning militarist tendencies applied in Syria, he said that the greatest negative effect of that move is legitimizing terrorism in the region, which is naturally a serious cause to be worried about. The Iranian MP mentioned Iran's key policy of attaching prime importance to the people's role in deciding their own fate, particularly in Syria, Afghanistan and Bahrain. Seheikholeslami then referred to the contents of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Six Article Peace Plan for the Syrian crisis, calling it a justice seeking humanitarian plan, adding, 'The countries that reiterate the need for observation of the human rights must support this plan, because it asks for an immediate end to militarism and massacre of the innocent people in Syria, freedom of the prisoners and captives, peaceful negotiations between the dissidents and the government, and eventually, holding free and fair elections.' He opined that no other initiative would lead to tangible results, as they would end up in the continuation of militarism and bloodshed. The consultant of the Iranian parliament speaker also said that solving the problems in Afghanistan, too, is only possible resorting to the same solution, which is ending militarism and yielding to free and fair elections, reiterating, 'The Islamic Republic of Iran would support any government that would come to power in Syria, or Afghanistan based on the votes and the will of those countries' nations in elections.' The Indian foreign secretary, too, in the meeting said that his country attaches great importance to its bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and considered Iran's stands on regional developments, particularly on Afghanistan, of great importance, stressing the need for continuous consultations between the two countries' officials on regional developments. Ranjan Mathai said that the ongoing events in Syrian are real tragic, asking for an end to militarism there and both sides' support for peaceful and diplomatic ways, free from foreign interference in that country. He then referred to India's huge investments in development plans in Afghanistan, which he said was a step towards peace and stability there, as well as investments in development plan of Iran's Chabahar Port city, arguing, 'India wishes to have a secure way to Central Asia and that is a basic foreign policy rule for us.' On December 16, Iran unveiled the details of a six-point plan to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria, which calls for an immediate end to all violent and armed acts. The full text of the Islamic Republic of Iran's plan is as follows: 1. Immediate end any type of aggressive and armed move under the supervision of the United Nations. At this stage the government and the entire armed groups must immediately end their moves, particularly in residential areas and in order to restore the status and establish peace and security, they must also cooperate with the UN special envoy and the committee that works under his supervision.' 2. Immediately after the end of the clashes presentation of humanitarian contributions to the Syrian victims in all damaged parts of the country must begin without any type of discrimination. In order to ensure the implementation of this important mission it would be necessary to end the imposed sanctions against Syria and that the ground would be paved for the return of the entire displaced Syrians living in camps back to their permanent residents.' 3. Simultaneous with establishment of peace and stability, comprehensive national dialogue inclusive of the representative of the entire political and social tendencies and the Syrian government must be held aimed at establishing a national reconciliation committee urgently. These talks must pave the way for the establishment of a transitional government that would be unanimously acceptable. The duty of this government would be holding free and competitive elections for establishment of the new parliament, the new founding members of a parliament to prepare the new Syrian Constitution, and for holding the presidential election, all in due times. 4. All the people who have been detained merely due to their political activities, regardless of the groups or tendencies, to which they belong, must be freed from the government prisons and from the detention of the decedent groups. The crimes of those who have committed them must be proved at legitimate courts of justice after fair trials. 5. The process of distorted information dissemination about the Syrian developments must end as soon as possible. The entire media and media representatives must have the chance of working and dispatching news items freely and free from distorted tendencies and the discriminatory hegemony of certain groups from Syria, to be able to reflect the real viewpoints of the Syrian people for the world public opinion. 6. The establishment of a committee to estimate the amount of damages and the cost for reconstruction of the ruined infrastructures in Syria. The duty of this committee is establishing an appropriate strategy aimed at attracting foreign contributions, allocation of priorities for reconstruction, and deciding the way for participation of the organizations and friend counties in the process of reconstruction. Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence./end