No Arunachal project given up,Krishna clarifies

Foreign Minister S M Krishna on Saturday denied reports that India had succumbed to Chinese pressure to designate Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territory in not seeking World Bank funds for development work in the region....

Foreign Minister S M Krishna on Saturday denied reports that India had succumbed to Chinese pressure to designate Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territory in not seeking World Bank funds for development work in the region.

He was reacting to a newspaper report,which,quoting a World Bank document,had said that Krishna has assured that India will not pose any Arunachal Pradesh-specific project to it and that Indias Executive Director in ADB Pulok Chatterjee has verbally communicated this to the World Bank and in writing to Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla on February 12. Terming a incorrect his comment as reported in the World Bank report,he said Arunachal is an integral part of India and development programs in the region will be carried out with internal resources. There is no compulsion to seek international funds for Arunachal,he said.

The Chinese executive director of the World Bank has reportedly been exerting pressure within the World Bank to mould lending its policies to India on the basis of the statement attributed to the Krishna in the World Bank report.

It is not quoted correctly. I have never said India is going to abandon projects in Arunachal or anywhere else, Krishna said when quizzed if the statement in the report is an indication of India falling in line with Chinese demands. If we can find internal resources to take up these projects where is the compulsion to go to the World Bank or Asian Development Bank or some other agency, he said.

Earlier,in a statement,BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: BJP condemns this assurance from the External Affairs Minister to the World Bank. This raises serious questions about the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. We want a clarification from the government on whether this decision had cabinet approval.

With ENS,New Delhi