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Every country has a right to pre-emptive strikes: Singh

Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said on Sunday that every country had a right to pre-emptive strikes and it was not the prerogative of any one nation.

"Pre-emption or prevention is inherent in deterrence. Where there is deterrence there is pre-emption. The same thing is there in Article 51 of the UN Charter, which calls it 'the right of self-defence'," he said in Washington.

Singh, who was in the US capital to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Director of Policy Planning Richard Haass.

Singh said he had discussed the evolving situation in Iraq and West Asia with the US leaders.

The minister said he was convinced that the US sought a strategic partnership with India and pointed out that this was the message US President George W Bush conveyed to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when they met in New York.

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