File photo: BJP’s Amit Malviya
NEW DELHI: Blaming India for the US strike on Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena was both illogical and misleading, the BJP said on Thursday as Congress took a swipe at govt over the attack on the warship that was returning after participating in a naval exercise in India.BJP noted that the strike occurred around 250 nautical miles from the Indian coastline, well beyond the country’s territorial waters and outside its maritime jurisdiction. Holding India accountable for an incident between the US and Iran in international waters was both factually incorrect and diplomatically untenable, it said.”Under international maritime law, a country’s responsibility does not extend to every incident that takes place in the broader oceanic region merely because it is geographically nearby.
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India shares maritime proximity with many countries across the Indian Ocean, but proximity cannot be conflated with control or accountability,” BJP’s Amit Malviya said.He said events taking place in international waters, especially those involving third countries, fell outside India’s legal or operational domain.”Attempts to drag India into this episode ignore the basic principles of maritime jurisdiction and appear driven more by speculation and political narrative than by facts. India neither controls activities in international waters nor is it a party to actions undertaken by other sovereign nations there. In short, geography does not eq-ual responsibility,” he said.BJP sources expressed dismay over Congress’s criticism. “Those who claim to be the ‘natural party of governance’ cannot be expected to be so ignorant of the basics of international law.,” said a senior party functionary.
