'India must take principled stand on Syria'

India must abandon its policy of neutrality and take a principled stand on Syria to allow the Syrian people to democratically decide on their political, economic and social future, London-based V K Krishna Menon Institute said today.
"The V K Krishna Menon Institute urges the Indian government to abandon its policy of neutrality and demand that all parties, including the Assad government, to reject force and to allow the Syrian people to democratically decide on their political, economic and social future," Cyriac Maprayil, executive director of the institute said in a statement.
"India has a historical moral responsibility in this regard," he said.

He noted that India, "once a passionate supporter of peace and a strong opponent of aggression, exploitation and bullying by some nations, seems to be uncharacteristically silent on the Syrian issue.
"This brings us to the Nehru-Krishna Menon doctrine of bringing the parties in a dispute, which pose a threat to international peace, to the negotiating table," he said.
Syrian opposition and the West have accused President Bashar Al-Assad's forces of using chemical weapons on August 21 in a Damascus suburb, a charge denied by the government.

The Obama administration has accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of killing 1,429 people in a poison-gas attack.

A week ago, Obama had announced his decision to go in for a limited military strike against the Assad regime to hold it accountable for the use of chemical weapons and sought Congressional authorisation for it.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to debate and vote on the authorisation resolution this week.