India Renews Peaceful Solution to Crisis in Syria

NEWDELHI,(ST)_India has  confirmed its support for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria and readiness  to do so  if  invited to take part  in the international conference on Syria in Geneva.

In an exclusive meeting  with journalists, a senior official in the Indian Foreign Ministry said  that his country’s position was clear since  the beginning of the crisis in rejecting  external interference , halting  violence and the Syrian people to decide  their own destiny,  pointing to the good relations between India and Syria and bilateral economic and trade  projects.

The Indian official expressed his country ‘s  deep concern over  activities of armed terrorist groups in Syria and the  Turkish, Qatari and  Saudi support  for these groups, which led to a further influx of terrorists and increased the complexity of the situation besides  the implications of lifting the ban on the sale of weapons to the Syrian opposition, warning that this decision   will have grave traces on the  future of security and stability in the region and possible  expansion of the war.

Last March, the  Indian National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon stressed  his country’s support for peaceful efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria and rejection of outside interference in the Syrian internal affairs, stressing that the solution must be, by the Syrians themselves.

T. Fateh