Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

New Delhi, Nov. 19: India has stepped away from its traditional pro-Tehran stand on a certain UN resolution and issued a demarche to Iran’s charge d’affaires to protest a comment on Kashmir by Iran’s supreme leader.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had referred to Kashmir as a “nation” on Monday and urged Muslims to help the Valley in its struggle.

Last evening, India had signalled its displeasure by, for the first time ever, abstaining from voting on a UN resolution critical of Iran’s human rights violations. India had so far always voted against the long-standing resolution.

Today, the Iranian charge d’affaires was told that Khamenei’s comments “impinged on India’s vital interests and territorial integrity”.

Government sources said India had not acted under US pressure. “This has nothing to do with India’s ties with the US... this is about India’s bilateral relationship with Iran,” a source said.

In his November 15 message to Haj pilgrims, Khamenei had said: “Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah (brotherhood) is to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathise and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir....”

Government sources said Khamenei’s call to the Ummah would only encourage terrorism in Kashmir. They added that this was the third time in four months that Iran had made comments on Kashmir that were critical of India.

On July 21, Khamenei had said that Iran “has been for decades the largest and most reliable supporter of the oppressed Muslims in Gaza, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir and other Islamic areas....”

On September 18, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson had regretted the police action on Kashmiris protesting the alleged desecration of the Quran by an American pastor on the 9/11 anniversary.

A source said that particular burning of the Quran never happened, and the trouble in Kashmir was caused by “staged images” shown by an Iranian TV channel. He said India had served a demarche on the Iranian charge d’affaires even at that time.

Officials said Tehran had conveyed that there was no change in its position that Kashmir was an inalienable part of India.

“However, the official position of their government and the views of Khamenei are at variance. We are trying to understand the positions of the different power centres in Iran,” an official said.