A DIPLOMATIC FEAT

DINKAR SHUKLA

    A recent diplomatic success of the External Affairs Minister, Shri Jaswant Singh, has virtually gone unnoticed. To him goes the distinction of having met four Heads of Government of key Western countries in a week’s time. This happened recently when he had undertaken a rushed visit to Washington, London, Berlin and a little earlier to Paris. His mission was meant to explain to leaders in these important world capitals as to how had India been suffering on account of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. To be more precise, the mission was to drive home the point to them that what India had been facing in the last two decades is an equal threat to the civilised, democratic and free world as the one posed by the September 11 carnage in New York and Washinton.

    It is to be noted that Shri Jaswant Singh was able to meet President George W. Bush in Washington, Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin and shortly before this trip, President Jacques Chirac in Paris. In addition, of course, he interacted with senior cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and his counterparts in the four capitals. Never before in India’s diplomatic history, perhaps, such an occasion had arisen when its External Affairs Minister could manage meetings in a row with Heads of Government of these powerful Western countries.

    Also to be noted is the fact that his meetings with Heads of Government and other leaders took place at a time when these Western capitals were hotbed of activity in the wake of the September 11 terrorist assaults in New York and Washington. In fact, the US President met Shri Singh when he was literally involved neck-deep in the strategic planning for the US-led operation against global terrorism. Senior journalist and member of the Rajya Sabha, Shri Kuldip Nayar, has described these meetings in the four capitals as a remarkable achievement of an Indian External Affairs Minister.

    Shri Jaswant Singh made it clear to the world leaders that he was not visiting them to ask for any military or material aid so as to counter terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. All that India was seeking, he stressed, was sympathy and understanding as regards its unenviable plight. After all, it has been a victim of terrorist violence for the last two decades. During this time the militants and mercenaries infiltrating from across the border have killed several thousand innocent people in India. Today India accounts for about 53,000 families which have suffered on account of terrorist violence.

    Media reports from these capitals have indicated that Shri Singh was able to establish a responsive chord. He was assured by leaders with whom he had an inter-action that they fully shared India’s concerns and sensitivities. The heinous terrorist attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex in Srinagar claiming over 40 lives sharpened their awareness. They agreed that though the Srinagar episode was not as colossal in scale as the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington, it was no less devilish in design and sinister in purpose. It is noteworthy that for the first time the United States departed from the old practice of terming terrorist assaults in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India as merely an act of violence. This time, the American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, described the Srinagar carnage as an act of terror.

    Shri Jaswant Singh was particularly happy to note that the American President was in agreement with the fact that the fight against terrorism could not be unidimensional. Mr. Bush was quoted by his Secretary of State as having observed that the kind of terrorism that affected India would certainly come in the purview of the US-led Alliance’s drive against global terrorism. Apart from his surprise meeting with Mr. Bush lasting 45 minutes, Shri Singh had useful discussions with the Secretary of State, Mr. Powell, National Security Advisor Ms. Condoleezza Rice and the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld besides the US Vice President, Mr. Dick Cheney.

    The American leaders took pains to make it clear to Shri Singh that involving Pakistan in the war against global terrorism would have no bearing on the upward-looking Indo-US relations. It was impliedly suggested to him that it is sheer American compulsion to make the maximum use of Pakistan’s strategic importance in the drive against the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan who are sheltering the terrorist kingpin, Osama bin Laden.

    In Britain, Shri Jaswant Singh called on the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and also had a series of meetings with his counterpart, Mr. Jack Straw and other leaders. According to media reports from London, Shri Singh’s visit drew its strongest public acknowledgement yet from Britain of India’s concerns and sensitivities. Mr. Straw denounced the Srinagar suicide bombing. Mr. Blair lost no time to telephone the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to convey to him Britain’s solidarity with India and support for its efforts to tackle the terrorist menance. He admitted that such menace could not be dealt with in compartments or on a piece-meal basis. He agreed that rooting out the scourge should be the joint endeavour of governments around the world. Mr. Blair assured Shri Singh that his country would not allow its territory to be used against any terrorist activities directed against Jammu and Kashmir.

    In Berlin, Chancellor Shroeder told the Indian Minister that Germany did not differentiate between terrorist depredations in one country or another. He assured India all support in its fight against the menace. The same was the response in France. Its leaders feel that the Srinagar incident clearly showed that the terrorist target is Indian democracy.

    In his various inter-actions, Shri Jaswant Singh made some useful points. First that the sweep of terrorism is global and second that India does not regard it as a religious act. Islam does not condone the killing of innocent people and it cannot be equated with terrorism. He also made it clear that India does not consider the current situation or development as any kind of clash of civilisation.

    The Indian External Affairs Minister also told these leaders that a large part of Pakistan and Afghanistan is under Taliban’s influence. "This region", he argued, "has become the centre for exporting this kind of medieval malevolence". He conveyed to them his belief that the event in New York and Washington has led to a kind of defining moment in the awakening of the international conscience about the scourge of terrorism. He hoped that now there would be no compromise with it.

    That India will not fish into Pakistan’s troubled waters is its well-known position. Shri Jaswant Singh used the opportunity of his inter-action with leaders of the four Western countries to urge them to use their good offices to restrain Islamabad from pursuing its terrorist agenda on Indian soil.

    At the end of his tour of the two continents Shri Singh had reasons to feel satisfied that there is now a greater understanding as regards the challenges and complexities facing India and the free world at large.(PIB Features)