Palestinian envoy in India replaced over Gujarat riots

By: Irfan Malik

NEW DELHI, India: Palestine’s new ambassador to India Osama al-Ali arrived here on Thursday to replace Khalid al-Sheikh after New Delhi demanded his removal over his attendance in a forum where speakers condemned anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state, the Palestinian embassy in New Delhi confirmed.

The Asian Age newspaper reported that the foreign ministry asked Palestinian president Yasser Arafat to replace Sheikh after the envoy attended an Indo-Arab League meet last year in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

During the meeting, the speakers reportedly blasted Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government and passed a resolution denouncing the Gujarat unrest, the Asian Age said.

Gujarat riots claimed about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Sheikh protested to the foreign ministry that he did not speak at the Hyderabad meeting and could not be held responsible for the statements of others, said the paper.

Meanwhile, Chairman Indo-Arab League Syed Waqaruddin described on Friday the Indian pressure to remove Sheikh as “politically motivated”.

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