India summons Iran envoy to protest remarks on Kashmir

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Upset over persistently critical
statements by Iran on north Indian state Jammu and Kashmir,
India Friday summoned its acting Ambassador, telling him that
such remarks impinged on the country's territorial integrity.
New Delhi issued a strong demarche to Iran's charge
d'affaires Reza Alaei expressing its "deep disappointment"
over the remarks, which is seen here as "impingement of
territorial integrity and sovereignty".
In an apparent tit-for-tat, India, for the first time,
abstained late last night from voting on the UN resolution on
the human rights violations in Iran. In past, India has always
voted against the resolution.
Noting that it was a matter of "serious concern", the
sources said these comments have also factored India's
decision to abstain from voting on the UN resolution, which
was piloted by Canada and several other countries.
In an official reaction, Ministry of External Affairs
said "our decision on the vote was made after due
deliberation." while 80 countries voted in favour of the
resolution, 44 voted against it and 57 countries abstained.
Sources were also quick to point out that even in many
Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries, there
has been no consensus on the resolution and Saudi Arabia in
past has voted in favour of the resolution.
Since July this year, Iran has on three occasions
remarked supporting the "struggle" in Kashmir and bracketed
the situation in the state with that in Gaza and Afghanistan,
sources said. MORE PTI