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My language on JK was not diplomatic enough, says Miliband

February 22, 2009 20:55 IST

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who sparked a diplomatic row with India over his remarks on Kashmir issue, has said some times his language was not "diplomatic enough" and that he was still learning every day in this job.

"Look, you learn every day in this job... you've got to try and take that forward. I know words matter in diplomacy," Miliband told the New Statesman.

At the same time, Miliband insisted that he was simply articulating the British Government's stand because he did not believe in saying "one thing in private and another in public".

"I'm here on this  trip, to show solidarity with India (following the terrorists attacks on Mumbai last November)," he told in an interview while he was in India.

Miliband triggered a diplomatic row when he wrote in'The Guardian' during his recent visit to India that the "resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms..."

He was also criticised in the media for not showing enough "deference" to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He had addressed them  by their first names, it was reported, while they referred to him in return as  "Your Excellency" or "Mr Miliband".

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