I think, what I said yesterday and what I say today is that we have to act on this aspect of the problem. It is this particular aspect that I have in mind. Naturally, the Navy of any great power never moves without any purpose behind it. They do not move about just for fun. As to what their intentions are on whether they are militarily intended against any particular country or not, I cannot say. I have not got any information.
At the present moment the question is that the constant or continuous presence of the fleet certainly creates an atmosphere of tension and this atmosphere of tension can be countered only by certain constructive measures that we will have to take and these are indicated in the reply I have given.
The first question the hon. Member reaised was with regard to Diego Garcia figuring in our discussions with Dr. Kissinger. We have made our position entirely clear in our discussion with him that not only the Government but the entire nation as one man is against this idea of having a base there in diego Garcia. We have made that position absolutely clear. He made it clear that there is no identity of approach on this question. That was the reaction. We agreed to differ. Naturally, we did not want to make it a bilateral in that sense.
Secondly, his question was whether we have taken up this matter with the UK Government. As you know, UK Government is aware of our position in the matter. My information is that they have said that they are going to have a second look in the matter. So, let us wait for their second look.
The third question is about the entry of the naval forces of another country. Naturally, if they enter the territorial waters, they have to inform and possibly, We may object. But, as long as they are on the international seas, normally, they informally inform and I am told that our Navy was informally given information that such a force is entering. We also called in the representatives of the American Embassy here and conveyed our concern about this particular matter when they gave us the detailed information.
Secondly, about the statement of the Shah of Iran, I hope the hon. Member would have seen the joint communique that was issued in the matter between the Governments of India and Iran and there is a special reference made about this particular point on which the Shah of Iran has expressed his satisfaction on the concept of the Indian Ocean being kept as a peace zone. We will say this is an improvement in the situation.
