Hyderabad: With a call for unity among Muslims across the world and the announcement of his readiness to simplify visa procedure for Indians Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday wound up the first leg of his India visit.In a rare gesture Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who is a senior Shia cleric too visited the historic Mecca Masjid a Sunni mosque to offer Friday prayers and called for unity among Muslims across the world.Addressing the congregation after the prayers he said unity among Shias Sunnis and other Islamic denominations was only solution to the problems faced by the Muslim world.Hassan Rouhani urged Muslims to treat all human beings with love and affection in the true spirit of Islam.On the second day of his three-day visit to India he joined common worshippers in offering prayers at the 17th century mosque noting that Friday prayers symbolise the unity among Muslims as they come together to pray. If Islam is presented before the world in true sense then the whole world will love this religion he said.He underlined the need for tolerance and for recognising all Islamic denominations and respecting them. They all can be compared to streams which come from a single spring and all these streams eventually into one ocean he said.Alleging that enemies of Islam were creating rift among Muslims he said the https://forum.pjrc.com/members/53975-kkmaketrip message of Iran was peace and unity.His visit to the mosque and call for unity is significant as Tehran is locked in a bitter proxy conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies in Iraq Syria and Yemen.The Iranian leader said the massacres in schools and university campuses in the US show that materialistic civilization is no guarantee for human welfare and development.He condemned the travel ban imposed by the US on some Islamic countries by branding Muslims as terrorists. He said Islam is based on kindness and affection.He quoted the Quran to say that the light of Allah can never be extinguished. Despite all hostilities towards Islam the future belongs to Islam and future belongs to Asia he added.President Rouhani announced that Tehran is ready to simplify visa procedures and hoped India will reciprocate to facilitate easy movement of people between the two countries.Stating that India and Iran share many commonalities he called for further strengthening bilateral ties.He said Iran with its rich resources of oil and gas was ready to help India to meet its requirements.He announced that Iran was ready to allow India access to the Chabahar Port to facilitate transit to Afghanistan Central Asia and Europe.President Rouhani said Iran and India can cooperate in areas like industry agriculture and advanced technology and take steps to contribute to the interests of both the countries and the region.Earlier the Iranian delegation led by the President visited Qutub Shahi tombs in Hyderabad. They went around the Qutub Shahi tombs complex housing mausoleums of rulers of the Qutub Shahi Dynasty (1518-1687) who had Iranian lineage.The Iran President had addressed Muslim leaders and religious scholars after landing in Hyderabad on Thursday on a three-day visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.He addressed a meeting of Iranians settled in Hyderabad on Friday evening before leaving for New Delhi. CommentsClose X Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali and senior officials saw him off at Begumpet Airport in the city.In Delhi Hassan Rouhani will hold bilateral talks with PM Modi on Saturday. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind. HYDERABAD: Iran s president on Friday strongly criticized the Trump administration s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital and urged Muslims to support the Palestinian cause. Hassan Rouhani also lashed out at the United States for imposing a ban on travelers from six largely Muslim countries. He was addressing a congregation after Friday prayers at Mecca Masjid in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad during a three-day visit to India. Rouhani called for unity between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam. He said the Shias Sunnis and people of other ethnicities coexisted peacefully in Iraq and Syria for centuries until the West created discord there. Rouhani is to meet on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He said India and Iran were the cradles of Asian civilization and that this century and the next would belong to Asia. Rouhani also referred to the fatal shooting of 17 people at a Florida high school and said this showed that material progress alone cannot guarantee peace in the United States. He urged Muslims to follow Islam s moral code of conduct. Rouhani s visit to India comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has threatened to scuttle an international deal reached with Iran in 2015 over its nuclear program that ended economic sanctions imposed on the country. The uncertainty puts India in a difficult position with its growing ties with the United States. India is helping Iran develop Chabahar Port on the Gulf of Oman for trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan which has refused to provide New Delhi access through a land route. In 2016 India Afghanistan and Iran decided to establish a trade route for land-locked Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. India committed up to 500 million for the development of Chabahar along with associated roads and rail lines. India shipped its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan by sea through Chabahar last October. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani s visit to India is likely to get buried under the din of domestic cacophony especially as it comes amid the unearthing of a major banking scam. But the importance of this three-day engagement should not be underestimated. The trajectory of bilateral ties holds far-reaching diplomatic economic and geostrategic implications for India. The ancient civilisational relationship isn t fraught but it isn t flourishing either caught between twin stools of respective geopolitical compulsions and ambition. Narendra Modi and Rouhani must mitigate multiple challenges to bolster a relationship that goes much beyond fuel trade and at least for India holds the key to its strategic game in Afghanistan central Asia and beyond including two airbases in Tajikistan. To quote from Georgetown University associate professor C Christine Fair s paper India-Iran Security Ties: Thicker Than Oil in the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA): India needs Iran to achieve its varied objectives in Central Asia. Iran for its part sees a tremendous complementarity (sic) of interest with India. Both states seek to undermine unipolarity and both states are uncomfortable with the role that the United States has played and will likely continue to play in West Asia despite the fact that both states have very different relations with the United States. File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iran president Hassan Rouhani. PTI The shared concerns also extend to Pakistan where Iran fears a consolidation of Sunni influence (exacerbated by Saudi Arabia s recent decision to appoint former Pakistan COAS general Raheel Sharif as the chief of Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance) and New Delhi is wary of Rawalpindi s sub-conventional war against India to destabilise the region and maintain international focus on Kashmir. Bilateral engagements are also subject to domestic pulls and pressures. In the case of Rouhani who is on his second visit to India and his first since becoming president it is more so. Iran s economy is sagging food inflation is high and jobs are hard to come by. The country has just emerged from a massive youth unrest that resulted in over 20 deaths overall and 450 arrests in Tehran alone. Rouhani a staunch backer of the 2015 multi-nation Nuclear Deal and a moderate voice within Iran s competing power structure knows that his time is running out. He had put all his eggs in the deal basket but with Donald Trump playing truant hopes of the agreement boosting the economy are receding and fears of renewed US sanctions are looming large. Trump wants Iran to suspend its ballistic missile program and restrict permanently Iran s uranium enrichment facilities conditions that Tehran will never accept and even EU signatories to the Nuclear Deal don t agree upon especially as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has certified no less than nine times that Tehran has not breached the terms of the 2015 Barrack Obama-era accord. The deal therefore hangs in limbo with Trump threatening that he has signed the latest sanctions relief for Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the last time . Under the JCPOA mechanism a part of the Nuclear Deal agreement the US president must certify at periodic intervals that Iran has obeyed the terms of the deal to keep waivers in place. This is the last chance Trump had thundered last January In the absence of such an agreement (immediate curb over uranium enrichment and ballistic missile program) the US will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran Nuclear Deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach I will withdraw from the deal immediately. Rouhani has sounded defiant but he knows that the sanctions which had been imposed in 2007 and stayed in place till 2016 have crippled the Iranian economy. A recent BBC study finds that Iran s middle class have been hurt the most and average household budgets have fallen which were reflected in the nationwide protests. Iran is in need of allies. Rouhani hopes that he will be able to persuade India to invest billions in connectivity infrastructure industrial and energy projects. His focus on India betrays a shrewd strategic sense. Both countries share deep and enduring civilisational ties a motif that Rouhani s itinerary stressed upon as he touched down in Hyderabad a city that has a sizeable Shia population and shares long historic and cultural ties with Iran. More importantly India is right now in a sweep spot vis-a-vis the US. New Delhi is one of the rare nations that can do business with Tehran without worrying too much about incurring Trump s wrath. Not surprisingly the 21-member high-powered delegation accompanying Rouhani includes ministers and businessmen who are keen to seal a number of deals. There are a number of projects for expansion of ties in the pipeline that not only will be in the interests of both nations but also in the interest of the region Iran s ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari had said in a national day speech last week according to news agency Reuters. Before leaving for India Rouhani told reporters in Tehran that he hoped to ink several MoUs with India. He called it his key objective to speed up proceedings of Chabahar agreement the 500-million trilateral deal signed between Iran India and Afghanistan last May that is at the fulcrum of India s great power aspirations in Central Asia and provides New Delhi with a secure transit route bypassing Pakistan. Modi would be mindful of the tough strategic calculus that India must solve to engage simultaneously with the US and Iran. In areas of connectivity trade culture and shared strategic vision Iran could be India s most valuable partner in West Asia. Yet growing convergence with the US on a number of areas including but not limited to the rise of China makes it imperative for India not to court Iran at the falling foul of a volatile Trump whose administration has focused on Tehran as the source of all evil in West Asia. Being at the fulcrum of Trump s Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan policy however gives India the freedom to carry out its strategic and geo-economic objectives which in this case is a close engagement with Iran. The Trump administration encourages India to take leadership in Indo-Pacific emerge as a net security provider in South Asia and is also reliant on New Delhi as a stabilising influence in Afghanistan. These competing currents are working in favour of India at least for now. Last October for instance US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on his New Delhi visit had clarified that Washington would not block legitimate business activities with Iran by India and had also reiterated that he saw no contradiction with US-Iran sanctions and India s port project in Chabahar. Yet there are challenges. Diplomacy isn t a zero-sum game and frequent overlapping of interests needs to be managed. As WPS Sidhu a professor at New York University s Center for Global Affairs writes in Livemint While both countries will seek to manage their differences as evident from the absence of any reference to Iran in Tillerson s speech it may still dampen the otherwise sunny prospects. Moreover how India responds to Trump s virtual call to arms against Iran will also have an impact on New Delhi s relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia. So far Modi has shown his deft diplomatic touch in segregating India s bilateral interests with nations at odds with each other without any serious diplomatic spill. However India s biggest weakness lies not in striking of agreements and deals but in follow-up and execution of those deals and projects. Despite the huge hype in Indian media Chabahar port is only partly operational. India s ponderous bureaucracy and logistical difficulties (caused by international sanctions) have made progress very slow. To put it in perspective the current operational capacity of Chabahar deepwater harbour lies at 8.5 million tonnes that could be increased to 80 million tonnes of annual freight capacity when it becomes fully operational as per Abdol Sattar Dushouki from the Centre for Balochistan Studies in DW. It could take a year maybe more for India to complete the work. The Modi government has recently made a decision to allow Indian business entities to invest in rupees in Iran for the first time a facility that was extended till just now to only Nepal and Bhutan. The rupee-rial mechanism may ease doing of business with Tehran. The delay in completion of Chabahar project the roadblock over Farzad B oil block should not be allowed to act as spanners in the development of bilateral ties. For both nations it is a moment in history they cannot afford to let slip. Hyderabad: Citing India as a living example of peaceful co-existence of people of different religious and ethnicities Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called for unity between Shias and Sunnis.Stating that there can be no military solution to conflicts he said that Iran seeks brotherly relations with all the Muslims nations and the countries of the region including India.Addressing Muslim leaders and scholars belonging to different Islamic schools of thought in Hyderabad on Thursday the first day of his three-day visit to India his half an hour long speech was focused on calling for the unity among the Shias and Sunnis while holding the West responsible for sowing the seeds of discords among various sects of Muslims. India is a living museum of different ethnicities and religions peacefully co-existing. This process is going on for centuries. Shia Sunnis Sufis Hindus Sikhs and others are living together. They together built their country and built their civilization Mr Rouhani said in his speech in Persian.He noted that India and Iran have historical and cultural relations which go beyond political and economic ties and the people of two great countries share the same historical roots.Mr Rouhani said Tehran seeks more cordial and closer relations with India in all areas of mutual interest.He alleged that the West created rift among Muslims by instigated certain groups and outfits. They portray themselves as Islamic groups but we call them takfiri . All those who follow qibla (the direction in which Muslims offer namaz) and believe that there is no god but Allah and Mohammad is His last messenger are living together as brothers he said.Claiming that Iran in recent years made efforts to end conflicts and bloodshed in the region he said that his country plans to enhance brotherhood with all Muslim nations and countries of the region. Iran is not seeking any discord with the other Muslim countries who have age-old relations with us. We believe that in case of differences bullet is the not the solution. Dialogue and logic are the tools at our disposal to overcome the differences. There is no military solution. The solution has to be political said Mr Rouhani.The Iranian leader said his country was ready to help countries like Afghanistan Iraq Syria and Yemen.He said that the Shias Sunnis Kurds and Christians lived together in Iraq and the same was true of Syria till the West created a discord there. We want to spread peace and also engage in dialogue while defending our rights. In case of need we do believe in resistance and steadfastness he added.Mr Rouhani said the enemies of Islam were trying to portray Islam as a religion of violence. The fact is that Islam is a religion of moderation tolerance and forgiveness he said extensively quoting from Quran and the sayings of Prophet Mohammad.Quoting Quran he said the Muslim community shoulder huge responsibility as they are present on this planet to spread good deeds and eradicate evils. Quoting a saying of Prophet Mohammad he said oppressed irrespective of his faith should be helped.Mr Rouhani said while during industrialization the West plundered the mineral resources of the East and in the current age of technology it is trying to plunder their culture and beliefs. CommentsClose X He said the solution to the problems faced by the humanity lie in returning to genuine Islam and underlined the need for educating all especially youth of the teaching of Quran and Prophet Mohammad whom the Quran described as the mercy for humanity.The Iranian President called for explaining how the Islam does not merely focus on issues of individual or family but it has the power to manage a society politics international relations judicial issues and social affairs. Islam rules and regulations for running affairs of the society he added. HYDERABAD: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will arrive here this evening as part of his three-day India visit during which the two countries will discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest. The External Affairs Ministry had said earlier that during the visit of the president of Iran both sides would review the progress achieved in bilateral relations and also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. Rouhani will land at the Begumpet Airport around 4 pm today where Union Minister of State for Power R K Singh will welcome him. He is scheduled to address Muslim intellectuals scholars and clerics at 6.30 pm an official source said. Telangana Chief Secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi who held a coordination meeting yesterday at the state secretariat directed officials of different departments to make foolproof arrangements for Rouhani s visit. During his two-day visit to the city the Iranian president will be accompanied by 21 delegates. He will also interact with the Iranians settled in Hyderabad the source said. Rouhani will address a congregation at the historic Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad after offering Friday prayers the source said adding that religious scholars from different schools of thought will also participate in the session. He is also scheduled to visit the Salar Jung Museum tomorrow. The president of Iran is also expected to visit historic sites here including the Qutub Shahi tombs at Golconda the source said. This is the second time Rouhani will be visiting Hyderabad but it is his first visit after assuming charge as the president. He will leave for New Delhi tomorrow the source added. HYDERABAD: Iran today expressed willingness to share its vast oil and natural gas resources with India and simplify visa norms to strengthen bilateral ties. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who is on a three-day visit to India said the current century belongs to Asia where New Delhi and Tehran have an important role to play. The Chabahar port in the Gulf country will open up the transit route for India to Iran and Afghanistan (bypassing Pakistan) Central Asian countries and Europe he told a congregation at the historic Mecca Masjid here after offering Friday prayers. Under an agreement India is to invest USD 85 million for equipping the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran. Iran has abundant oil and natural gas resources and is willing to share them with India for its progress and prosperity of (its) people he said. The president said Iran is hopeful India will reciprocate by simplifying visa rules to enhance people-to-people contact. Iran is willing to further simplify visa procedure (for Indians) and I am hopeful the Indian government too will look into it for better relations between the people of India and Iran. In his speech Rouhani also referred to shooting incidents in educational institutions in the US. Earlier in the day he visited the historic Qutub Shahi tombs complex here. Built in the Iranian architecture style these monuments are popularly known as seven tombs. Telangana government officials and Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) office-bearers briefed the leader on the architecture and significance of the over 400-year- old monuments. Rouhani began his three-day India visit from Hyderabad where he arrived last evening. This is his second visit to Hyderabad and the first after assuming charge as the president of Iran in 2013. .story-content span .story-content p .story-content div color:#000!important;font-family: open sans Arial!important;font-size:15px!important ALSO READ UN sanctions North Korea blocks fuel ships and workers 1st phase of Chabahar port launched: 10 key points explaining its relevance Most large global banks plan major investments in open banking: Accenture Invest 5-10% in a banking sector fund Digital India drives 7.4 bn investments in Indian internet cos in 9 months span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 India s plans to allow its nationals to invest in Iran using the rupee faces several hurdles. The lack of a proper banking channel procedural complications and the looming threat of further sanctions against Tehran by the US might hold back Indian investments into Iran. Media reports on Friday suggested that to circumvent tough trade sanctions in place against financial transactions with Iran New Delhi has decided to allow rupee investments. Currently Indians can invest using the rupee only in Bhutan and Nepal. Senior government and industry sources said on Friday an announcement might be made on Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The move however might not bear fruits owing to the absence of any banking channel between the nations. Our banks are being ultra-cautious about what will happen if the US imposes some restrictions on financial transactions said Naushad Forbes co-chairman of Forbes Marshall. Korean German Japanese and Swiss banks among others have established connections and their companies are doing business in the country. It is high time India has at least a couple of Indian banks in Iran so that an Indian firm is able to transact business. Uncompetitive labour and crippling sanctions have added to the difficult business environment sources said. Investors have also been put off by the countrywide and month-long protests against the ruling regime in Iran. There is a strong interest in investments into the petrochemicals ports and railways sectors of Iran Ajay Sahai director general of the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations said. This is because of the Chabahar port and project possibilities in the expanding Iranian railway system being sought by Rites the engineering consulting arm of the Indian Railways. Indian oil companies are also looking to set up operations. Senior government officials confirmed that on all these counts discussions have been slow while the Chabahar port is behind schedule. On merchandise trade both the governments have been in talks to find a way to put in place an old rupee trade mechanism a senior government official said. As of now oil majors prefer to do business through the euro while smaller traders use the United Arab Emirates dirham. After decades of sanctions the Iranian market is considered to have significant growth potential with a high appetite for consumption. Companies from apparel engineering goods and other sectors are key to cash in on this. However once we reached https://genius.com/kkmyntra there we saw prohibitively high import duties and the threat of further sanctions continue to exist Premal Udani chairman of apparel manufacturer Kaytee India and past chairman of the Apparel Exports Promotion Council said. Iran is a relatively prosperous country due to oil receipts and has a large population with a huge demand for outside products apart from providing the opportunity to access the wider Central Asian region. In 2015 after the Iran nuclear deal framework agreement was signed by Tehran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council Indian exporters had visited Iran to check out the consumer and industrial markets. While Indian exports of man-made textiles are slowly increasing Indian companies have been unable to use the market access in pharmaceuticals Sahai added. Official statistics showed Indian exports have reduced by more than 50 per cent over the past three years to 2.37 billion.
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