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India squirms as world condemns
Gujarat riots

In words that were not music to New Delhi's ears, visiting Canadian Inter-Governmental Affairs Minister Stephanie Bion expressed concern at a press conference over the violence in Gujarat, but made it clear that it should not be interpreted as interference in the country's affairs.

British High Commissioner Sir Rob Young and visiting Swiss Foreign Minister Josef Deiss also spoke of the continuing violence as a cause for concern.

Young, however, welcomed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's recent statements that those responsible for the killings would be prosecuted.

The expression of these concerns came on top of reports sent by missions of countries like Germany and The Netherlands on the Gujarat situation, especially the way the "minorities were targeted".

Making public India's disenchantment for the second time in three days, the Ministry of External Affairs said some foreign missions were "deliberately leaking" their internal reports, creating an impression of playing a partisan role.

"We note with regret that some foreign missions in India continue to interfere in the already vigorous democratic debate going on in our country, at all levels of Indian society, on the situation in Gujarat by deliberately leaking their internal reports or making substantive political comments on the subject," the ministry said.

MEA spokesperson Nirupama Rao said such actions were contrary to well-established norms of diplomacy and injurious to the friendly relations between India and the European Union and individual European countries.

PTI

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