Category — Foreign Affairs

George Bush’s ’secret’ letter to the US congress, published by the Washington Post, exposes the inconsistencies in the assurances that Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, gave to the Indian parliament while saving his government. No more “Singh is King” then?!

Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s memoirs seem to be little more than an election campaign filled with fabrications, insinuations and self-serving tripe. This view is based on the opinions expressed by ‘experts’ on both sides of the border.

Also in the book is Musharraf’s apparent disillusionment with Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s leadership and imagination. And he has some advice for the good doctor…

He has this advice for Singh: “I feel if a leader is to break away from hackneyed ideas and frozen positions, he has to be bold. He has to dominate the establishment, rather than letting it dictate to him”.
[source: IBNLive]

Isn’t that precious!? Perhaps someone should remind Mush that we have something called democracy in India. And it functions slightly differently from the dictatorship he is used to, in Pakistan.

And in any case, Musharraf’s four-point “out-of-the-box” solution is anything but “out-of-the-box” or imaginative! It’s just a rehashed proposal that Pakistan has been trying to push for ages, and one that has been consistently found unacceptable by India since it involves partitioning J&K along religious or sectarian lines.

It may be termed as Havana appeasement or Dr. Singh’s Stockholm syndrome, but after reading statements like…

If the joint mechanism between India and Pakistan to tackle terrorism does not produce results, then New Delhi will have to think of winding it up, reliable sources said on Monday.
[source: IBNLive]

… it just seems that this trial and error diplomacy is all about putting up Indian citizens as cannon fodder for terrorists!

This vile, self-serving and rudderless foreign policy just lurches from terrorist strike to terrorist strike… disregarding the simple fact that “results” in this case are human lives at stake, not hypothetical outcomes of hare-brained schemes of some foreign policy academic!!

After the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, the national mood was simmering. People were enraged and wanted decisive action by the Government… perhaps strikes inside Pakistan to bomb the terrorist camps proliferating there. Sensing the national mood, the Government of India decided to put the peace talks with Pakistan on hold. The reasoning offered was that unless Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf abides by his promises to end cross-border terrorism, talks were futile.

“India will ask Pakistan to fully adhere to President Pervez Musharraf’s announcement in 2004 that his country would extend all support to end cross-border terrorism as the terror strikes in Mumbai not only shook the country but invited sharp reactions from the world community,” Ahamed said.

And yet, less than 20 days later, India opted to resume the dialogue with Pakistan. One wonders what change in Pakistani attitude in the intervening fornight prompted the resumption of dialogue! On the contrary, Pakistan only strindently denied any involvement in the 7/11 blast and also brazenly asked for proofs of the existence of terrorist camps within Pakistan. The reason for resumtion of peace talks was the same old worn-out line that the MEA is so fond of!

”We are engaged in a peace process which is important to both countries and it is very important that in order to allow this process to move forward there must be a commitment to abandon cross-border terrorism in whatever form it occurs,” he said.

So why did the Indian government choose to resume the dialogue?! Armchair peaceniks will claim that sane heads within the government prevailed. Congress will put forth the argument that the Congress party is committed to peace. But of course, those are silly reasons. There are no more saner heads in this government than the preceeding one! And if at all, the Congress party is committed (and addicted) to power, not peace.

Surely the NDA government gave a marvellous example of a tough response when it ordered Operation Parakram after Vajpayee’s ‘aar paar ki ladai‘ claims in the aftermath of the Pakistan-sponsored Parliament attack in 2001. After all, Operation Parakram was the biggest and longest deployment of Indian military might on the border.

Hardly!

[Read more →]

Following foiling of a possible terrorist strike in UK, the US embassy in NewDelhi issued an advisory.

The Embassy has learned that foreign terrorists, possibly including members of Al-Qaida, allegedly intend to carry out a series of bombing attacks in or around New Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) in the days leading up to India’s Independence Day on August 15, 2006 (i.e., a possible time frame of 11 - 16 August). Likely targets include major airports, key central Indian government offices, and major gathering places such as hotels and markets.

[Emphasis original. Source: OSAC]

It’s essentially an advisory for the US nationals (tourists, etc.) in India. But it’s effectively an indication that the US intelligence services have some information about possible strikes. Whether these likely attacks materialize or not is besides the point. Indian authorities should at least acknowledge this and try liaising with American intelligence authorities.

However, Indian authorities seem to be sure that the US fears are baseless and that the warning itself is “innocuous”

The government on Friday described as “very innocuous” the US Embassy advisory on possible Al-Qaeda attacks in the national capital and Mumbai but refrained from commenting on the presence of foreign terrorists in the country.

[Source: Rediff.com]

I fail to understand what is innocuous about the warning. The advisory is very clear on the possible timeframe of the attacks, the possible places of attack and even possibly the perpetrators. It’s quite clear and upfront. Now it is upto the Indian authorities to link up with the Americans and extract the details. But what do we have here? Indians want the intelligence to be delivered to their doorstep!!

Duggal repeatedly ducked questions whether there was any presence of al Qaeda in the country. “I have only seen the advisory and there is no intelligence input shared with us.

“It is normal for them to issue advisories for their mission staff to maintain a low profile. This is strictly their internal matter. I have no comments whatsoever,” he said.

[Emphasis mine]

What the hell?!! … how are possible terrorist strikes in New Delhi and Mumbai, an American internal matter?!! I fail to understand this completely!

On the other hand, it’s a classical Indian response. Go into denial to start with and then if incidents happen, then bemoan the lack of intelligence or better still, blame it all on Gujarat!

And all this is hours after the capture of two LeT terrorists (including a Pakistan national) at New Delhi station with five detonators!!