Strongly disfavouring any US military action against Iran, India on Friday said it did not want 'another flashpoint' in its neighbourhood and hoped that 'good sense' will prevail, preventing the 'precipitation' of the Tehran nuclear issue.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the row over Iran's nuclear programme should be resolved through dialogue and the ongoing talks between Tehran and the UN atomic watchdog IAEA should be allowed to reach the logical conclusion.
"India is always against any armed intervention by any country in another country," he said, responding to a question in Bangkok about US threats to launch an attack against Iran.
"We do firmly believe that Iran has every right to pursue its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes," he said in the interaction after delivering a lecture on 'India's look east policy: Implications for Thailand and South East Asia.'
At the same time, Iran, as a signatory of NPT, has certain international obligations, he said.
"The talks that are going on between IAEA and Iran should be allowed to reach the logical conclusion," he said, emphasising that the issue ought to be resolved through dialogue.
Noting that the Middle East hosts about five million Indians and is an important supplier of hydrocarbons to India, Mukherjee said development of 'another flashpoint in our neighbourhood' will be a worrying factor.
"We can advise, we can suggest," he said, adding "I do hope that good sense will prevail and there will be no precipitation of the crisis."
Mukherjee, who arrived in Bangkok on Thursday on a three-day bilateral visit, was interacting with diplomats and intellectuals at the Institute for Security and International Studies of the Chulalongkorn University.
To a question on Iraq, he said India has already voiced its opposition to armed intervention in the country and Parliament has passed a resolution seeking withdrawal of US-led forces from there.
At the interaction, Mukherjee faced several questions on India's military engagement with Myanmar. US Ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce and a British diplomat wondered how India, a democracy, could engage militarily with Myanmar, where an army regime crushes human rights.
Mukherjee responded by making it clear that India does not supply any weapons to Myanmar or any other country as it is 'not an exporter of arms.'
The security cooperation with Myanmar is confined to exchange of information, he said.
He said a large number of insurgent groups operating in north east were using the Indo-Myanmar border which was posing a 'problem.'
"We, sometimes, seek cooperation from Myanmar but Myanmar has expressed its inability because of difficult terrain and lack of infrastructure," the minister said.
"We have to live with the situation," he said, adding that on its part, India is doing whatever is possible.
When asked what India was doing to bring about 'genuine democracy' in Myanmar, Mukherjee said the 'basic core' of New Delhi's foreign policy was non-interference in internal matters of any other country.
