Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Don't become a partner

Sir, — Your Editorial is a clarion call to the people of India to defend firmly the well-sustained, long-cherished and acclaimed foreign policy and defeat the despicable and surreptitious manoeuvres of the Vajpayee Government to become a `willing partner' of an illegal occupying power in Iraq. While the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, flies to the U.S. to strike barter deals with the Bush administration (to send Indian troops to Iraq and get oil and other contracts and, in the process, legitimise the brutal operations of the occupying power) the Prime Minister visits China, meets the top new-generation leaders and talks about the compelling need for strengthening multipolarity at the global level. A dangerous game is being played by the top leaders of the Government to ditch India's independent stance on foreign policy (a Nehru legacy) and drag the nation to the status of a vassal of the superpower.

In fact, the Government seems to be actively cooperating with the Bush administration to prove its eagerness to become a willing partner in executing the strategic plan of the U.S., the main component of which is using India as ``the base for high-end fighting missions'' in areas which in the U.S. President's vision are not `stable' — Iran, Syria, Liberia, Nigeria or North Korea to cite a few examples. The immediate task of the peace-loving people of India must now be the neutralisation of the covert efforts of the Vajpayee Government and to protect the sanctity of India's independence in foreign policy.

V. Sampath,
Bangalore

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• It was doomed to fail
• Saying `no' to U.S.
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• Uphold our principles
• Don't become a partner
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• 'A matter of convenience'

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