Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—While just 10 days are left for the Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) to be inaugurated, Iran has replaced India with Yemen as special guest at the prestigious cultural event of the middle east.
The fair will begin on May 8 and conclude on May 18.
The reason advanced by TIBF spokesperson Ali Ramzani is that India has imposed restrictions on the travel of its citizens to Iran owing to tensions in the region after Iranian attack on Israel and counterattack by Israel.
“India’s absence is due to ongoing restrictions on Indian citizens in Iran following Operation True Promise. As a result, Yemen will now be the special guest of the 35th Tehran International Book Fair,” Ramzani told mediapersons in Tehran.
According to Ramzani, India was designated as a special guest at the fair in a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries during the World Book Fair in New Delhi in February this year. One of the clauses of the MoU was about Iran to participate as special guest in the World Book Fair in New Delhi in February 2025. Iran had participated in the 10day World Book Fair here in February 2024 by setting up its pavilion just in front of the Saudi Arabia’s stall.
TIBF is considered one of the biggest cultural event in the Middle East in which over 2500 domestic and 600 foreign publishers take part. Iran has been holding the book fair event for the last 34 years and the forthcoming book fair will be the 35th edition.
However, Middle East experts say that India’s absence at the fair owing to tension between Iran and Israel is a very weak reason particularly when Israel and Iran have de-escalated following intervention by world powers. Moreover, Israel has also offered for a 40-day ceasefire in Gaza brokered by the US and other countries in case Hamas agrees to return the Israeli hostage who are in Hamas’ custody.
Moreover, Yemen cannot be a replacement for India because Yemen facing civil war for more than decade has no significant publication industry. Even before the civil war, Yemen was not known for any major publication activity.
Iran and middle east experts opine that there may be some serious reasons for India announcing to remain absent from the fair. While India and Iran continued to have strong relations with each despite the Western sanctions against Iran, experts says the joint communique by Iran and Pakistan at the end of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s visit a week ago might be the immediate provocation for Indian absence from the book fair.
A bilateral declaration signed between the two countries highlighted “the need to resolve the Kashmir issue through and peaceful means based on the will of the people of that region, and in accordance with international law” which is in consonance with the Pakistan stand on the issue and against the Indian position on Kashmir. Such statements internationalise the Kashmir dispute while India has rejected mediation by third parties or even the United Nations after signing of the Shimla Agreement.
While President Raisi did not mention Kashmir in his speech, the joint declaration undoubtedly raised the Kashmir issue perhaps at the insistence of Pakistan who always wants to internationalise the issue of Kashmir. Indian wants settle the issue bilaterally with involvement of any third country.
