INDIA UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT RESOLUTIONS ON IRAN,

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 002285 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR DRL/MLGA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL UN IR BM KN SUBJECT: INDIA UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT RESOLUTIONS ON IRAN, BURMA, AND NORTH KOREA REF: A. SECSTATE 116263 ¶B. NEW DELHI 02176 ¶1. (U) PolCouns conveyed Ref A demarche on November 12 and 13 to Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretaries for Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran (PAI) Division, Y.K. Sinha, and UN Economic and for Social (UNES) Division, Rajiv Misra, respectively. Emphasizing the importance we place on the Indian Government's support for the UNGA resolutions on Iran, Burma, and North Korea, we urged the Joint Secretaries to instruct the Indian Mission in New York to vote against or abstain on any "no-action" motions which may arise. We also conveyed our hopes that India would reconsider its policy of opposition to country-specific resolutions and endorse all three resolutions when they came to a vote. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: Post is doubtful New Delhi will be persuaded to change its stance on the issue of country-specific resolutions during the 64th session of UNGA. As MEA/UNES Under Secretary Abhishek Verma told PolOff on October 23 (Ref B),the Indian Government believes that "country-specific resolutions lead to finger pointing and intensive monitoring... and India will probably abstain from voting on Burma and DPRK Human Rights resolutions." Despite Verma's reassurance that the GOI would formulate a decision regarding Iran at the highest levels, if voting records are an accurate indicator, India is unlikely to support the Canadian-sponsored resolution. End Comment. ROEMER