NEW DELHI, Jan 12: The attacks on Christians in Gujarat is an ``internal affair with international implications,'' as a consequence of which India's image as a tolerant nation has taken a beating abroad, Germany's ambassador to India has said.Heinrich-Dietrich Dieckmann told The Indian Express that he has been instructed by his government to take up the issue ``in an appropriate way'' with New Delhi. Soon, he said, he would be seeking an appointment with the foreign secretary to convey Bonn's concern on the issue.Prime Minister A B Vajpayee will meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other senior officials of the German government on February 8 in Bonn, en route to the G-15 meeting in Jamaica. But Dieckmann refused to say whether India's treatment of its minorities would find space in the conversation of the two leaders.Meanwhile, concerned at the kind of international attention the attacks are attracting, various arms of the government and the BJP have launched a damage control exercise thatalso verges on the combative.``Foreign governments have no business getting into this.these are our people, it's an Indian problem,'' government sources said. Others pointed out that New Delhi did not issue critical statements when, for example Indians in the US were disproportionate targets of violence or when the Indian diaspora in nations like Pakistan, Fiji or the UK were selectively beaten up.But as the controversy snowballed, the government sources also admitted to worrying that ``the danger is that the West could begin to use it against India.''Dieckmann, clarifying that he was speaking on behalf of his government and not as a representative of the European Union (Germany took over presidency of the EU on January 1), nevertheless added that the EU ambassadors in Delhi regularly exchanged information on the issue.``The first aspect which comes to mind is the Indian image problem. India used to have a secular, tolerant, peace-loving image abroad. This issue has already done damage for theimage of India,'' Dieckmann said.The ambassador wouldn't confirm whether or not the EU would soon be passing a resolution against the attacks, on the lines of its displeasure against the Sharia law in Pakistan. ``I cannot exclude it.You cannot say this is a minor issue. This is an internal, Indian affair with international implications,'' he added. ``We respect the sovereignty of India. I don't want to interfere in internal politics here,'' the envoy said. ``Hinduism is a tolerant religion. But this (the attacks) is not an expression of tolerance.''He pointed out that the attacks were a big story in the German press, and that it was bound to in some way affect the government in Bonn. ``The umfelt, the political environment can be influenced.its a bit like the Pokharan tests.I would not deny that there is a risk.'' The German ambassador's remarks, meanwhile, began to publicly resonate abroad today, with the Pope in the Vatican expressing concern over the attacks against the Catholic community inAsia. Never once directly naming India, the Pope's address to the diplomatic corps, was nevertheless clear. ``In Asia, episodes of violence have caused tragic sufferance to the Catholic community,'' the Pope said, adding, ``Churches have been destroyed, religious personnel have been mistreated and even murdered.''Interestingly, the Papal address also had a reference to the ``nuclear tests recently (conducted) in Asia.'' It is this increasing conjunction of views by the international community - against India's nuclear tests and attacks on the Christian minority population - that is clearly worrying New Delhi. Government sources said it seemed as if foreign nations, who couldn't really isolate India in the wake of the tests, were now using the Christian attacks as a stick to beat the government with.Nevertheless, as the international and home media's critical reporting on New Delhi's secular credentials continue, the sources pointed out that the prime minister was himself initiating direct action onthe issue.An official release today said Vajpayee had instructed the ``state governments in no uncertain terms that acts of violence against the minorities wherever and in whatever form they occur must be dealt with sternly and exemplary punishment awarded to the perpetrators.''The prime minister's message went on to add : ``The secular character of our country has to be maintained at all costs.the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police may be made personally responsible to look into complaints of harassment of any citizen, irrespective of caste and creed, so that immediate action could be taken.''The government sources pointed out that the attacks were of a ``limited, localised nature,'' that as the prime minister gradually took command, directions to state authorities became ``direct, stiffer and more specific.''
