Teheran, April 11
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee declared here today that India would never weaken its bond with secular values despite occasional aberrations.

“We will never allow any external force to cast a shadow on India’s secular fabric by seeking to damage our unity and territorial integrity”, Mr Vajpayee said in his address in Hindi to the Majlis (Iranian Parliament).

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee addresses the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) in Teheran on Wednesday. — PTI photo

As the ‘first’ Head of the Indian government to be bestowed the honour of standing in the well of the Majlis in post-revolution Iran, Mr Vajpayee emphasised that Islam had made a significant contribution to the development of Indian culture. “We do not consider any religion foreign to us. For nearly a 1000 years, Islam has been part and parcel of our national and social life”, he observed. “The mellifluous call of the Azzan, the bells of our temples and churches, the invocation of the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dhammapadda, all blend in a melodious symphonic offering to the Almighty”, he said amid acclamation.

Mr Vajpayee allayed any misgivings by drawing pointed attention to India’s unswerving secular credentials. It was an assertion that India has always been a pot-pourri of all religions which “fundamentally respects man’s spiritual quest and his freedom to pursue it in the manner in which he chooses to do so”. This assumes significance following the December 6, 1992, destruction of the Babri Masjid structure in the pilgrim centre of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

Dwelling on India’s pursuit of a peaceful and stable world order, the Prime Minister reiterated, without naming Pakistan, that New Delhi “continues to seek friendship and cooperation with all countries in our neighbourhood”.

He said that India had always been prepared to go the extra mile as it has always believed in addressing all differences directly, peacefully and through dialogue.

In an unmistakable reference to Pakistan, Mr Vajpayee was emphatic that “dialogue and violence cannot go hand in hand. We call upon those forces in our neighbourhood which have promoted confrontation and pursued the path of violence to recognise the futility of their ways and to abandon them. On our part, we are aware of our responsibilities and will always act with restraint”.

Concerned about the dark forces of violence, terrorism and obscurantist ideologies that have emerged in India’s and Iran’s neighbourhood, the Prime Minister said that Afghanistan had been at the crossroads of civilisation. “It is tragic that an attempt is being made to obliterate its past through the destruction of its historic art which is the heritage of mankind. Those who are guilty of these acts are not of this day and age; they have lost reason and logic”.

He warned that the mentality behind the forces that are responsible for such destruction and the nexus of these forces with violence and terror presents a challenge to all those societies that aspire to harmony and peace.

He had no doubt that for regional peace, security and the welfare of our peoples, India and Iran had to confront these challenges together.

Describing the revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini as a defining event in Iran’s history, Mr Vajpayee noted that it was an expression of the will of the Iranian people. He said India empathised with Iran’s aspirations for a just and egalitarian society and polity.

He maintained that India remains committed to democracy, freedom, secularism, social justice and equitable growth. “The preservation and enlargement of individual freedoms and civil liberties is an axiom of our democratic tradition. We value our autonomy of action in our domestic and foreign policy. 

The issue came up at a meeting between the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Kamal Kharrazi, here this afternoon.

The two countries also decided to set up a parliamentary group in each country to enhance cooperation between the parliamentarians of the two countries. The Speaker of the Indian Parliament has already given a “green signal” for such a group while the Iranian side assured that they would discuss the arrangement.