Expressing concern over the ongoing tension between Iran and Israel, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on April 15 said he had made telephonic calls to his Israeli and Iranian counterparts on April 14 to appeal to them not to escalate the prevailing tension.
“We have been telling both of them (Israel and Iran) that please do not allow it to escalate,” Mr. Jaishankar told media persons in Bengaluru.
“This is a very crucial region for global economy. Almost 90 lakh Indian citizens are living in this part of the world (which is witnessing tension). A large part of our shipping passes through this part and our oil comes from this part of the world. This is enormously sensitive region and we are very concerned when there is this kind of escalation in hostilities,” he observed.
“Yesterday I called up not only Iran, but also my Israeli counterpart,” he noted.
“We also understand that both the countries have concerns. But for the rest of the world, definitely for India, we would like to find ways of de-escalating the situation. I am hopeful that our efforts will go in this direction,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
Replying to queries on a spate of attacks on Indian students in the U.S., Mr. Jaishankar said the students’ welfare was particularly important for the government as there were 11 to 12 lakh students in different countries.
Pointing out that the Indian embassy had looked into these cases of attacks on students in the U.S., he said all the cases were un-connected. Some had personal issue, some were unfortunately murdered and some other was an accident, he said.
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“However, we have asked our embassy to keep a closest touch with students. Whenever new students come, the embassy people should go to them and advise them like don’t go to this area at this time, don’t take foolish risks,” he said.
Mr. Jaishankar made an appeal to the people to give one more opportunity to Mr. Modi to become Prime Minister again saying that: “It is going to be difficult years ahead in terms of international challenges. For such a period, we need a person with strong leadership, global understanding and global respect.”
He said “already we have one conflict in Ukraine, and another in Israel Gaza. There is tension in the red sea area and Arabian sea area. There are challenges with boundaries of different countries of Asia.”
