archive: Vajpayee turns down Clinton's invitation
Vajpayee turns down Clinton's invitation
Jyoti Malhotra
The Indian Express
July 5, 1999
Title: Vajpayee turns down Clinton's invitation
Author: Jyoti Malhotra
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 5, 1999
NEW DELHI, JULY 4: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has turned down
an invitation from United States President Bill Clinton to visit
Washington for discussing the Kargil conflict. Clinton called up the
Prime Minister yesterday and Vajpayee told him it was not
``convenient'' for him to visit at this juncture, official sources
said here today.
``We will not allow any third party to mediate in this conflict,''
highly-placed sources in the Government said, reacting to reports that
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was meeting Clinton in Washington
today with the ``one-point agenda'' of securing a US guarantee to
Islamabad's proposed withdrawal from the LoC.
``Any proposal for a supervised withdrawal by the US or even the UN
Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is a
non-starter,'' the sources said.
They added emphatically, ``Pakistan has to withdraw first and
unilaterally. There is no question of any third party looking on.
Meanwhile, our operations will continue.''
Officialsources, denying that Clinton's invitation to Vajpayee could
be construed as ``third-party mediation'', said it was a ``bilateral
one and had no connection with the visit of Nawaz Sharif to
Washington.''
``The US President invited Vajpayee to consider a visit to Washington,
to which Vajpayee replied in the negative, saying it was not
convenient to come at this juncture,'' the sources said. The call
lasted for 10 minutes. Its purpose was to brief Vajpayee about
Sharif's visit there on Sunday, they added.
But New Delhi, ever sensitive to comments that the US is playing an
increasingly dominant role in the resolution of this conflict, seems
to have been averse to the idea of Vajpayee going to Washington when
Sharif is there.Clearly, though, India and the US seem to be moving
closer on their shared perception of the Kargil conflict. Officials
here, applauding the pressure Washington has been putting on Islamabad
so far, admit it will be ``a paradigm shift'' in the bilateral
relationship if the US manages topull off a withdrawal from the across
the LoC.
Even official sources, usually cautious to the end, today described
Indo-US ties as ``something decisively different, as compared to
earlier. Both are large democracies, which share a mutuality of
interests,'' they said.Meanwhile in Washington, US National Security
Council spokesman P J Crowley said Sharif had called Clinton on
Saturday to discuss the Kargil situation and requested a one-on-one
meeting.
``Sharif had requested the meeting and I would assume he is bringing
some ideas on how to resolve the current situation,'' Crowley said.
Sharif's overnight flight to Washington -- till Friday Islamabad had
not officially confirmed the trip though Pakistan army chief Pervez
Musharraf had last week announced that Sharif had sought a meeting
with Clinton -- seems to be a last-ditch effort to persuade the US to
intervene and bring an end to the conflict.
Pakistani foreign office spokesman in Islamabad Tariq Altaf said he
was confident Clinton had a particularrole to play, adding that the
Clinton-Sharif meeting will be extremely productive.
Increasingly isolated - even old friend China has asked Islamabad to
respect the LoC - and with the threat of the IMF loan withdrawal
hanging over Pakistan's head, Sharif clearly seems to be at the
crossroads. His meeting with Clinton at this juncture, with the Indian
Army having retaken Tiger Hills today, could also include a request to
the US to revive a face-saving package for Pakistan.
On the other hand, the recapture of Tiger Hills has clearly boosted
the morale of the Government and it seems New Delhi is in no mood to
relent, leave alone bargain. Asked if the Government would now
consider some sort of a face-saving package to end the conflict, the
official spokesman said, ``Basically it is their problem, not ours.
The bottomline is that the Pakistani intruders have to go back.''
Pakistan's call for a ``dialogue'', the spokesman added, is a
``blatant attempt to obscure, conceal and divert attention from these
factsand to buy time. This is another instance of sophistry in keeping
with Pakistan's long-standing deception and propaganda, passing itself
off as ``reasonable'' and peace-loving when in fact it is responsible
for deliberate, planned aggression... there is not the slightest sign
on the ground that Pakistan is taking the necessary steps for
(withdrawal).''
Meanwhile, observers in Washington, pointing to the fact that the
Clinton-Sharif meeting was taking place on July 4, America's
Independence Day, said it reflected the ``urgency'' the US was
attaching to the resolution of this conflict. Normally no business is
transacted on this day.
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