Iran’s influence in UP: an American diplomatic cable

THE NEW YORK TIMES

We’ve unearthed this cable from the Wikileaks archive of diplomatic correspondence from the United States Embassy in New Delhi, dated August 4, 2006 which alleges there was an active Iranian influence in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of heavy attacks that summer by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

The cable, titled “Indian Muslim Resentment Smouldering Over Lebanon and Gaza” cites two prominent Muslims in Uttar Pradesh who allege Iran was funding political rallies and propaganda in the state. Iran’s influence outside its own borders is being reexamined in the wake of explosions in New Delhi and Bangkok that some have linked to the country.

Qari Mian Mazari, a “leading Maulvi politician from the moderate Barelvi school,” maintains that “Muslim emotions were being fired-up by a steady stream of propaganda from the Urdu press,” some of it funded by Iran, the cable reads:

Mazari claimed that the Iranian Embassy had paid for the placement of 15 anti-Israel/anti-US articles in the Urdu press since hostilities began in Lebanon and planned to continue to spending large sums to play up the Lebanon story. He was particularly angry with the Urdu newspaper “”Nai Duniya (New World),”" which is published by Shahid Siddiqi, a Muslim MP from the Samajwadi Party (SP). Mazari noted that Siddiqi had published a special edition of the paper with 24 pages devoted to the glorification of Hizbollah and had distributed 50,000 copies free of charge throughout India. He claimed that the entire project was funded by Teheran (sic).

The cable also cites “veteran journalist” Zafar Agha, who alleges that prominent Muslim leaders were, for the most part, not staging demonstrations on the Lebanon issue, fearing a backlash. That leaves those on “Iran’s payroll to sponsor demonstrations.”

“In the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the ruling Samajwadi Party has determined that the best way to maintain Muslim allegiance is to adopt a pro-Iran, pro-Hizbollah, anti-Israel, anti-US stance,” the cable concludes.