Contemporary world situation calls for close cooperation between India and Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, adding both countries “should not neglect the present opportunities to replace the dying big powers”. Iran and India should stay together because of their cultural ties as well as the situation in the region and the world, he told Indian external affairs minister S.M. Krishna here on the sidelines of the G-15 meet.
All these call for close cooperation between the two countries, President Mahmdoud Ahmadinejad said.
“Iran and India should build upon their common views in building up new systems for the future of the world,” the President said.
Both the countries “should not neglect the present opportunities to replace the dying big powers”, he was quoted as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Closer ties between Iran and India will benefit other countries as well because Tehran and New Delhi have always sought peace and security for the region and the world, he added. The Indian minister said Iran and India were two developing countries which had to make the best of their potentials.
Describing the G-15 meeting as “successful and effective,” Mr S.M. Krishna appreciated Iran’s efforts for successfully holding the event.
On Monday, Mr Krishna met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties. Ties between Tehran and New Delhi had come under a strain last year.
India had stuck to its opposition of Iran’s nuclear weapons by voting for a resolution in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rapping Tehran for building a secret enrichment plant. G-15, a forum of developing countries, now comprises 18 countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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‘MHA sent Delhi 16 reminders’
Age Correspondent
New Delhi
It has taken the Delhi government almost four years to act on the mercy petition file of 2001 Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru, which was sent to it by the Union home ministry in 2006 as part of a routine exercise seeking the views of the state government on the law and order aspect in the event of a death sentence being carried out.
In these four years, the home ministry sent the Delhi government 16 reminders on the status of the mercy petition file of the Parliament attack convict, who was awarded the death sentence by a Delhi court on December 18, 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001, for waging war against the country and murder.
After this was confirmed by the Delhi high court, and the Supreme Court had rejected Afzal Guru’s appeal, a sessions court had also fixed the date and place of his hanging — October 20, 2006 in Tihar jail.
Afzal Guru later filed a mercy petition with the President, and Rashtrapati Bhavan then forwarded the file to the Union home ministry for its comments.