Assad's aide Bouthaina Shaaban urges India to be pro-active at Geneva II

NEW DELHI: President Bashar-al-Assad's aide Bouthaina Shaaban is in Delhi to consult the Indian leadership ahead of next month's Geneva II conference meant to chart out a roadmap to bring stability in Syria.

Shaaban, political advisor to the Syrian presidency, met External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi on Thursday night to seek India's bigger involvement in Geneva II and address the political crisis and violence that has plagued Syria since 2011.

Khurshid appreciated Shaaban for making this trip immediately after her trip to the Russian capital. Shabaan was part of a Syrian team that visited Moscow to discuss the convening of the Geneva II conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other leaders. Earlier this month, India, Russia and China during their trilateral meet had pitched strongly for peaceful and negotiated settlement to the crisis without foreign intervention.

Talking to a group of journalists, Shabaan noted, "We are happy to see foreign ministers of China, Russia and India getting together. We are happy to see BRICS, because these are important poles in a multi-polar system."

Urging Delhi's deeper involvement, Shaaban said, "India is a very important country for us. We have cultural and historical ties with India. India is the country of Mahatma Gandhi and that is why we want India to play an important role in the political process and in Geneva... we have an emotional attachment with India."