‘Aware of India’s interest in Qatar’
NEWDELHI: UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash on Thursday said that Qatar should either mend it ways or look for a life without being part of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and its common market.
The powerful minister, who is in India for regular bilateral consultations, said that New Delhi — which has robust defence and energy ties with Qatar — has nothing to worry about.
He said Qatar "which supports Islamists radical groups and terrorists" are hampering the interests of other countries in the region. Five Gulf nations — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — have snapped diplomatic ties with tiny but rich Qatar over a host of issues including the Gulf nation’s support for Muslim brotherhood.
Yemen and the India’s South Asian partner Maldives too joined the five Gulf nations, which Qatar had termed as a blockade.
Many analysts believe Qatar not agreeing to hegemony the of Saudi Arabia, the biggest country in the GCC, angered the others.
"We are not going to escalate the situation. But if Qatar is not ready to accept its mistake and mend ways, they will have to make a bed for themselves and lie on it,” he said.
When asked if the UAE wanted India to cut its gas import from Qatar, he said, "What India does with Qatar is its sovereign decision.”
He said his country understands Indian concerns over its economic interests in Qatar and large number of people working in the region. “We have assured the Indian leaders that we will take care of the interests of their workers,” he said.
Indian officials, however, refused to give a formal comment on his remarks.
“We have good ties with all countries in the Gulf region. As external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said earlier this is an internal matter of the GCC. We hope the issue is resolved soon,” sain an official on conditions of anonymity.
On being asked about terror attacks on India from Pakistani territory, the minister said the UAE has been very vocal against such attacks.
“We don't support mixing religion with politics and using terror for political objective, whether it is in Asia, Africa or anywhere in the world,” he added. CHENNAI The Madras high court on Thursday stayed the look out circulars issued against former Union minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti and four others by the Centre under the Passport Act over a corruption case filed by the CBI.
Justice M Duraiswamy granted the interim stay when petitions filed by Karti and others seeking to quash the circulars came up for hearing and directed the central government to file its counter by September 4.
Others who got the interim relief are Karti’s associates CBN Reddy, Ravi Viswanathan, Mohanan Rajesh and S Baskar Raman.
The Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) and the Bureau of Immigration under the Union home ministry had issued the circulars against Karti on June 16 last and against the four others on July 18.
In his petition, Karti contended that the look out circular was part of the central government’s “political vendetta” and issued “arbitrarily” and without jurisdiction to prevent him from travelling abroad.
He also said he had responded to the summonses issued by the CBI in connection with the case and there was “no absolute cause of action” for issuance of the circular. The case related to alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds when Karti’s father was the finance minister in 2007.
Opposing Karti’s plea, the Centre had told the court that after the experience of liquor baron Vijay Mallya leaving India, it has become imperative for it to issue the look out circular against him (Karti).