'India respects Iran's nuke plans under IAEA'

Somnath Chatterjee said that the Indo-Pak peace process was on the right track and he was confident of its success.

India respects Iran's right to civilian nuclear energy for peaceful purposes within IAEA guidelines, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said in Berlin on Thursday.

HT Image

Chatterjee, after his talks with President of German Parliament Bundestag Norbert Lammert, also said that the Indo-Pak peace process was on the right track and he was confident of its success.

"We respect Iran's right for civilian nuclear energy for peaceful purposes within the guidelines of the IAEA," the Speaker said at a joint press conference with Lammert when asked about India's position on Tehran's nuclear programme.

His comments assume significance in view of the US House International Relations Committee approving a draft bill that seeks India's full and active participation in the US' efforts to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability.

This clause has evoked objections from the Left parties but the government has allayed fears on this count, pointing out that it was a non-binding provision entailing no responsibility for New Delhi.

During Chatterjee's talks with Lammert, the German side evinced keen interest in understandnig the Indo-US Civil Nuclear deal besides functioning of Indian democracy, Parliament and use of electronic voting machines (EVMs).