Alarm bells heard, Delhi rush begins again

The Indian Express ^ | 2002-05-20 | Jyoti Malhotra

[Lessismore]

• EU Commissioner Patten on his way
• Indus treaty annual meet could be deferred

New Delhi, May 20: India's decision to keep up the diplomatic and military pressure on Pakistan seems to be paying off, with the European Union’s external affairs commissioner Chris Patten persuading New Delhi to let him visit here on May 23-24, after he completes a visit to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, even as the MEA considered a variety of diplomatic options to turn the heat up on Islamabad, the likely next step is the postponement of the annual meeting of the Indus Waters Treaty slated to be held on May 29 in the capital.

Back at the other end of South Block, Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra calibrated New Delhi’s strategy by calling in the US and French envoys to emphasise again the point that India’s ‘‘restraint’’ was not permanently on trial.

In the wake of the failed tour of US envoy Christina Rocca last week, several foreign ministers have been calling External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh, asking him for ‘‘more time’’ to persuade Pakistan’s General Musharraf to back down from cross-border infiltration.

Germany’s Joschka Fischer made that telephone call today, following calls from the British foreign secretary Jack Straw and French foreign minister Deville Pin on Saturday.

Jaswant Singh, sources said, gave his European counterparts the same treatment that he dealt out to US secretary of state Colin Powell last week. When Powell spoke of a ‘‘process’’ that both India and Pakistan could embark upon to sort out the present tangle, Singh is believed to have poured very cold water on that suggestion.

‘‘What process,’’ Singh is said to have told Powell, going on to add that India was the initiator of all the ‘‘dialogue processes’’ with Pakistan and that all of them had ended in failure.

Still, Singh’s cold shoulder seems to have somewhat softened, with New Delhi today allowing itself to be persuaded by Chris Patten to visit the capital. Patten, who was visiting Afghanistan today, will arrive in Islamabad by tomorrow, from where he will come to New Delhi on May 23. He is likely to meet Singh the next day.

In fact, the European Commission’s other top-ranking diplomat on foreign affairs Javier Solana was, even before the Jammu attack, slated to have visited New Delhi (while Patten went to Pakistan) sometime in the middle of the month to talk to India about its intentions on mobilisation and Pakistan.

But with the MEA furious about the European Union’s position on Gujarat, Solana was told very politely that it would not be convenient for him to be received in New Delhi. Patten, now, is visiting both countries.

Mishra, meanwhile, called in US envoy to India Robert Blackwill and French ambassador Bernard Montferrand. Mishra is said to have told them in ‘‘no uncertain terms’’ that if in the ‘‘nearest future’’ India does not get unambiguous evidence that Pakistan will stop cross-border terrorism, it would take ‘‘appropriate action.’’

A diplomatic measure could be to invoke UN Security Council resolution 1373 on terrorism, with New Delhi arguing that it is only following in the footsteps of the US (on Afghanistan) and Israel (on Palestine).

According to an agency report, British Chief of Defence staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce is expected to be here on Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Defence Minister George Fernandes and services staff during his two-day visit.

[Aaron_A]

Let the Europeans have some heartburn...the Indians will try their best not to end up in the same situation as Israel.