Cant be a broker nation: EAM Jaishankar at allparty meet

NEW DELHI: Govt on Wednesday scotched the suggestion that Pakistan has scored diplomatically by offering to play mediator between Iran and US, with foreign minister S Jaishankar saying the neighbour has been a past master at inserting itself into conflicts.

India cannot be a broker nation, sources quoted Jaishankar as saying at the all-party meeting govt had convened. The minister also said PM Modi, in his conversation with Donald Trump on Tuesday, had told the US president that the war was hurting everybody and impressed upon the latter the need for swift resolution of the conflict.

India follows multi-alignment, has good Iran ties: EAM

On Pakistan working its way into the West Asia frame, Jaishankar recalled it was also the intermediary between China and the US in 1971 and again between the US and Iran in 1981. Govt sources said Jaishankar was putting things in perspective by recalling Pakistans past interventions.He wasnt mocking or criticising what Pak is doing now regarding the conflict, one of the sources added.

India is a big country and pursues multi-alignment to serve its national interests, he said, insisting that it continues to enjoy good equations with Iran.

The minister also said that there was not enough clarity about the format and fate of the US-Iran talks with uncertainty over who would be negotiating on Irans behalf. He pointed to the sudden emergence of parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as Tehrans chief negotiator.

At the meeting, presided over by defence minister Rajnath Singh, opposition MPs, including Mukul Wasnik of Congress, John Brittas of CPM, Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, NCPs Supriya Sule and AAPs Sanjay Singh flagged a host of issues, including Modis visit to Israel just before the war broke, Indias alleged silence over the assassination of Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and concerns over oil and gas availability.

Besides Jaishankar, govt was represented by home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, petroleum minister Hardeep Puri and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju.

Puri assured the participants that India had sufficient stock of petrol and diesel. Besides, it had moved to tie up new sources of supply.

TMC was the lone major opposition party which skipped the meeting, calling for a discussion on the issue in Parliament.

Rijiju said govt had explained its position clearly to address the concerns of opposition parties.

They also asserted that in such a challenging situation, we all have to stand together. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made an appeal that the Parliament should rise together in any challenging situation. I think the opposition parties have displayed maturity, the minister said.

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