Govt squirms as world cries foul

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">new delhi: the gloves came off on wednesday as indian diplomacy took on the eu missions on their remarks on gujarat, accusing them of violating diplomatic norms and appearing partisan. in an unusually combative mode, a statement from the ministry of external affairs charged ‘‘some foreign countries and missions in delhi’’ with‘‘injecting themselves into the highly politically charged internal debate in the country’’ and ‘‘creating an impression of playing a partisan role’’.terming this ‘‘contradictory to well-established norms of diplomacy’’, the government warned that this would be ‘‘injurious to the friendly relations that exist between india and the eu as well as individual european countries identified in the press as sources of leaks and political interference.’’ even while the mea took umbrage with the eu, other countries joined in the condemnation of the events in gujarat. while the visiting swiss minister joseph deiss had articulated these sentiments on tuesday, on wednesday, it was the turn of the visiting canadian minister stephane dion to express his country’s concern. british high commissioner rob young, whose mission is credited with having come up with the most damning indictment of the government on gujarat, reiterated his country’s concern in response to questions at a function in the high commission. while the mea focussed only on the eu, it also denied that the stand of the eu countries amounted to a failure of indian diplomacy but said that efforts were continuing to convey the indian point of view. regretting the continued interference by some foreign missions, the external affairs ministry says this was being done by deliberately leaking reports or making substantive political comments on the subject. it is learnt that the eu met and decided not to exacerbate the issue by ceasing all comments on the issue for the time being. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">related stories:</span><br /><img src="C://DOCUME~1//ADMINI~1//LOCALS~1//Temp//cms_files//7887098-open//images//ticker.gif" alt="C://DOCUME~1//ADMINI~1//LOCALS~1//Temp//cms_files//7887098-open//images//ticker.gif" border="0" /> <a href="articleshow.asp?art_id=7857096">advani rejects demand for gujarat probe by sc judge</a><br /><img src="C://DOCUME~1//ADMINI~1//LOCALS~1//Temp//cms_files//7887098-open//images//ticker.gif" alt="C://DOCUME~1//ADMINI~1//LOCALS~1//Temp//cms_files//7887098-open//images//ticker.gif" border="0" /> <a href="articleshow.asp?art_id=7880617">ncw indicts gujarat govt</a> </div> </div>