Indo-U.S. ties: wrong perceptions

By K. K. Katyal

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28. The Government of India had to issue three denials - or clarifications - last week on matters concerning its relationship with the new administration in the United States. The episode pointed, on the one hand, to the high degree of interest shown by the world community in the new equation and, on the other, to the ease with which wrong perceptions could crop up.

New Delhi has no reason to be apologetic about the steps taken to forge close ties with Washington but, at the same time, there is a case for avoiding over-statements and for caution by the foreign policy establishment. There had been no dearth of pundits and analysts who propounded the theory of U.S. pressure on India, right from the moment the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, announced his decision to invite the Pakistan Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for talks.

The coincidence of the announcement coming a day after the Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Chokila Iyer's return from the U.S. after the foreign-office-level consultations was used as a supporting evidence. Inquiries from the two capitals did not substantiate this theory. But it continued to hold sway so much so that now Gen. Musharraf gave expression to his belief that the Vajpayee invitation was a sequel to prodding by Washington. That the Bush administration was positively inclined towards India and recognised its importance had been evident, of late, especially from the interviews to The Hindu by top persons in Washington, Ms. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, and Mr. Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, but the line on specific matters was yet to crystallise.

The present U.S. administration, as indeed its predecessor, favoured resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue but there had been no occasion to formally convey such a suggestion to India. New Delhi, perhaps, sensed that the U.S. may well initiate such a move and hence chose to pre-empt it. If at all there was a connection, it was in this context.

India put the record straight, promptly rebutting Gen. Musharraf's suggestion that the invitation was sent because of international pressure. The other two cases, entailing refutations, were, however, avoidable.

Mr. Jaswant Singh's remark (in his capacity as the Defence Minister) in Australia about the U.S. access to military bases in India was not happily worded. In reply to a newsman's query whether the U.S. would be provided access to military bases in India, he referred to the coming visit of Gen. Henry Shelton, a top-level military person, and said: ``Military-to-military cooperation is one of the components of Indo-U.S. cooperation. Access to bases...you are moving far too fast yet. Let these things evolve over time.''

It lent itself to misinterpretation - which were dismissed by the government as speculative. However, not all among the diplomats, based here, were prepared to accept the clarification. The third denial related to reports that India had cleared the way for the U.S. army personnel to receive training in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare at the Vairangte Training College in Mizoram. Lt. Gen. Shergill, GoC, Agartala, could have done without the statement on the subject, that led to misunderstanding.

China angle

All this came in the wake of the widespread misperception about a China angle in the improvement of India- U.S. ties. Even though Mr. Jaswant Singh had repeatedly asserted that New Delhi's relationship with Washington was not hyphenated with any other country, interpretations to the contrary continued. The Chinese media (but not the government), too, carried stories containing suggestions - considered baseless in New Delhi - that India was sought to be developed into a counterweight against Beijing. Will the U.S. disavowals discourage the speculation?

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