POLITICS-INDIA: Vajpayee to Avoid Pak Military Ruler at U.N.

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Sep 5 2000 (IPS) - A weak knee is just what the doctor ordered for Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to avoid meeting Pakistan’s military ruler Pervez Musharraf at the United Nations this week.

Vajpayee, who was scheduled to leave for New York Tuesday to attend the U.N. Millennium Summit ahead of his visit to the United States, has put off his departure to Sep.7.

According to Ministry of External Affairs Spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal, the 76-year-old prime minister needs the two extra days to undergo physiotherapy for an arthritic knee.

However, this means that Vajpayee will miss the Sep. 6 formal lunch hosted for heads of state and government by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Vajpayee, who had earlier ruled out a meeting with Musharraf, will now be spared a chance encounter either at Annan’s lunch or a reception the same evening by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Clinton, who toured the sub-continent in March, is urging resumption of talks between the two nuclear weapon rivals. New Delhi and Islamabad broke off communication following last summer’s undeclared Kargil border war in Kashmir.

India has repeatedly said it would resume dialogue only after Pakistan stops arming and supporting the separatist militancy in Kashmir and creates a conducive atmosphere for the talks.

“You cannot hold a pistol to India’s head and say ‘now talk’,” asserted Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. Singh was to represent India at a Commonwealth meeting scheduled in New York Tuesday to discuss the political crisis in Fiji.

Musharraf is due to address the U.N. Summit Wednesday and reportedly plans to use the opportunity to appeal to the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the half-century-old Kashmir dispute.

“India has rejected Pakistan’s talks offer over Kashmir. Now the world community should focus attention on the issue,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar declared before Musharraf’s departure for New York.

Pakistan’s military ruler is expected to press Islamabad’s case on Kashmir when he meets world leaders during his five-day visit.

The U.S. president is expected to have little success persuading the South Asian neighbours to move toward signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The Indian foreign minister said India had already declared a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear tests after the May 1998 explosions. He said that the government was trying to forge an all-party consensus in parliament before signing the CTBT.

However, influential sections of Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are opposed to India’s acceptance of the CTBT. National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra has said that signing the CTBT is not on the government’s agenda in the near future.

Nuclear non-proliferation and Kashmir are expected to be high on the agenda of talks between Clinton and Vajpayee, when the Indian prime minister is in Washington from Sep. 13 to 17.

“Their discussions will contribute to a closer and qualitatively new relationship between India and the U.S., visualised during the visit to India of President Clinton in March 2000,” a foreign ministry statement said.

But analysts do not expect much from the Clinton-Vajpayee talks and say the Indian prime minister’s visit will be overshadowed by campaigning for the U.S. presidential elections.

“India should have been concentrating its energies on the next administration in the United States,” said academic Christopher Raj, who specialises in U.S. affairs at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, here.

There is also little expectation that Washington will move to lift the economic sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests.

“Sanctions are a part of U.S. law and it will take time to lift them,” said former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

However, foreign ministry officials here are satisfied with Clinton’s indication of Washington’s reluctance to intervene in the Kashmir dispute.

They pointed to an interview by Clinton to the Indian mass circulation ‘Hindustan Times’ daily, which was published Sunday. The U.S. president told the newspaper: “India’s leaders have the right to decide how they will deal with Pakistan.”

But Clinton added: “It is our view that a resumption of dialogue is in India’s interest. You cannot change geography. We are encouraging all involved to work to create an atmosphere that will allow this to happen (including) taking steps to bring about an end to violence.”

Commenting on Clinton’s interview a government spokesman said it “reflected the depth of understanding between the two countries on key issues and also spelt out specific areas for development of relations.”

The official comment was a reference to the ‘Vision Statement’ signed by Clinton and Vajpayee in New Delhi. This included a “dialogue on Asian security” as part of foreign office consultations between the two countries.