Indian's junior foreign minister warned Israel on Friday against any moves against Yasser Arafat, after a meeting with the veteran Palestinian leader at his office here.
"Any effort to remove him from the scene would by indefensible in international law, would serve non-constructive purpose, would negate all efforts towards reconciliation and would have a negative impact on the peace process," E. Ahmed told journalists.
"You are a hero to us in India and a well-known name," Ahmed added. "President Arafat is known as a symbol of the Palestinian cause and a great hero of our time.
"The Palestinians will succeed in the realisation of their national aspirations."
The Indian official, who joined Arafat for Friday prayers, was later to meet with Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a newspaper interview this week repeated a year-old threat against Arafat, saying he would be banished "at a time that suits us."
"We took action against (Sheikh) Ahmed Yassin and (Abdelaziz) Rantissi and a few other murderers when we thought the time was right," he said, referring to the assassination of the co-founder of Hamas and his successor.
"On the matter of Arafat's expulsion we will operate in keeping with that same principle: we'll do it at a time that suits us," he told the daily.
Ahmed's three-day visit, which began on Friday, was to reflect the Indian government's "continued commitment and support to the Palestinian cause, including to the relief and reconstruction efforts" by the Palestinian Authority, a foreign ministry statement said.
The new Congress-led government, which took office in May, reiterated in its first policy blueprint India's "decades-old commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people for a homeland of their own".
India under a Congress-led government in 1992 resumed diplomatic ties with Israel after treating the country as a pariah state for decades.
Under the Hindu nationalist government which lost power in May, India forged close military links with the Jewish state and acquired military hardware at a cost of a billion dollars.
But the new government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has preferred to follow a different approach, according to analysts.
TEENAGER SHOT DEAD: A young Palestinian woman was killed by Israeli army gunfire Friday in the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian security officials said.
They said Fariza Minawi, 19, was hit on the roof of her home when soldiers opened fire at Palestinian stone-throwers. There was no immediate report from the military on the teenager's death.
EIGHT PALESTINIANS NABBED: Eight Palestinians were arrested overnight by Israeli troops in several West Bank towns, an army spokesman said Friday.
Three of them, suspected of belonging to the radical Islamic Jihad group, were nabbed in the Bethlehem area, in the southern West Bank.
Five others were arrested in Nablus and Salfit, in the northern West Bank.
The spokesman said troops had also discovered and safely detonated an explosive charge in Nablus' Old City.