Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 27, 2008.
Govt assures rattled China foolproof security
for Olympic torch relay
Coming under pressure from different quarters,
New Delhi has promised to make "all arrangements to ensure that the Olympic
flame passes through India safely".
Following China's concern over security to
the Olympic torch that will go through India from April 17, India's National
Security Adviser MK Narayanan said here on Wednesday, "We have taken
precaution on that". Narayanan was responding to media queries on the
sidelines of a function.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Rajnath
Singh and Jaswant Singh have issued a joint statement here accusing the Government
of adopting a "nationally-humiliating and pusillanimous" stand on
the issue to appease China and asked it to perform India's "dharma"
of standing up for the cause of Tibetans.
News agency PTI has quoted sources as saying
that "China is not even ruling out bypassing the country if it is not
sure of foolproof protection." The Chinese Embassy has taken up the issue
of security for the torch with the Indian Government and the matter is under
discussion, agency report added.
China's worries are against the backdrop of
pro-Tibet movement in India and the last Friday's incident wherein a group
of Tibetan protestors stormed its Embassy in New Delhi.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang
confirmed to PTI that Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao had been called past
midnight to "express our positions and concerns" after the incident
in Delhi. India is tight-lipped on this issue.
Considering that the launch of the Olympic
torch relay in Greece on Monday was marred by breach of security by Tibetans,
China feels more apprehensive about its security during the Indian leg as
the number of Tibetans in this country is manifold than that in Greece.
China is accusing Tibetan spiritual leader
the Dalai Lama of "masterminding" the latest surge in protests to
disrupt the Olympic Games being hosted by Beijing from August 8. The Dalai
Lama has, however, rejected the charge and expressed support to the Beijing
Olympics.
Amidst the brouhaha, senior BJP leaders said
it was "shameful" that instead of expressing concern against use
of force by China, the Government is adopting a "degrading policy"
of "blatant appeasement" towards Beijing with scant regard to India's
national honour and foreign policy independence.
After a meeting of party general secretaries,
the BJP leaders condemned the UPA Government's "policy of irrationality"
saying India must "give voice to its concerns; correctly, unequivocally
and unambiguously" against the "use of indiscriminate violence by
the Chinese armed forces to crush the voice" of the people of Tibet.
"This is not interference. It is standing
up, by India, for preserving that which is our own and that which is India's
contribution to all humanity -- Tibet's Buddhist culture and civilisation.
This is our bounden duty and our very 'dharma'," Advani, Rajnath and
Jaswant said.
Referring to reports about cancellation of
a meeting between Vice-President and the Dalai Lama, the BJP leaders sought
to know from the Government the rationale behind adopting "a nationally-humiliating
and pusillanimous policy full of indecision at the cost of neglecting the
country's prestige".
The BJP leaders invoked Lord Buddha to emphasise
India's "spiritual" connection with Tibet, a predominantly Buddhist
region.
