Author: Pranay Sharma and Seema
Guha
Publication: The Telegraph, Calcutta
Date: September 30, 2001
Introduction: India's failure to
live up to expectations of playing a key role in the war against terrorism
was disappointing to many. Now, it seems, staying out of the limelight
was very much a deliberate strategy of the Vajpayee government
Foreign minister Jaswant Singh always
carries a copy of the Hanuman Chaleesa with him on his travels abroad.
When Singh arrives in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with US secretary
of state Colin Powell, there will be another important document in his
patent leather briefcase - a personal letter from Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to President George W Bush.
The missive is expected to state
India's solidarity with the US and resolve to work closely with the Americans
in the fight against global terrorism. In sum, what the Indian government
has been saying from day one. Little has changed in New Delhi in the long,
three weeks since the attacks that changed the world.
Or so it appears. The world and
his wife have been seen in New York and Washington, hugging George Bush,
shaking hands with Colin Powell, attending prayer meetings and lighting
candles for the dead and missing. Indians are on TV only as victims of
misguided racial attacks. Many NRIs were so incensed by the sight of the
larger-than-life visage of the Pakistani President on their televisions
and hardly any mention of the Indian Prime Minister on the air that they
have flooded the government with e-mails and phone calls. Only to be met
with a deafening silence.
That is how India is waging the
first war of the 21st century - keeping mum, lying low, supporting unquestioningly.
"Pakistan was in the news for all the wrong reasons - for its links with
the Taliban regime, its role in nurturing the Taliban and the fundamentalist
protests over Musharraf's decision," a senior official says. India, New
Delhi stresses, is happy not to be in the forefront of the publicity blitz.
Cross-border terrorism has been
on Indian government's lips long before White House began mouthing it.
And now, with over 250 Indians or people of Indian origin lost in the rubble
of the World Trade Centre, with Afghanistan practically a neighbour, many
had expected New Delhi to be a major player in the new war against terrorism.
Instead, "Though the strikes clearly vindicated India's position, from
day one we tried not to adopt an I -told-you-so approach," a senior government
official says.
The reason is simple: What can be
better than getting others to fight your battles? Militancy in Kashmir
will be crushed if America destroys the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On the other hand, too much of a proactive role runs the risk of a political
backlash in a country where every eighth Indian is a Muslim. "Rather than
making a song and dance about it in public, South Block stress is on quiet
and private diplomacy," says a bureaucrat. "Is there any merit in reacting
like an over-eager puppy." adds a Vajpayee aide.
In fact, New Delhi claims the real
work begins now. The talks principal secretary Brajesh Mishra has just
concluded and Jaswant Singh will have over the next few days in Washington
and elsewhere are just the icing on the cake.
The vote of confidence India hoped
to receive soon after the blasts have begun to pour in. "The tragedy on
September 11 has transformed Indo-US relations," says Robert Blackwill,
the American ambassador in New Delhi. "It has accentuated our bilateral
ties in a way that did not seem possible even a few months ago." The real
change, it is said, has been in the frequency, intensity and transparency
with which the two countries are sharing intelligence. The French ambassador,
too, describes India as the "Voice of democracy in Asia" and stresses the
need for "India and France to coordinate their positions to meet the new
challenges."
"Almost all the major world leaders
have been in touch with us, wanting to know our position on the fast-paced
evolving situation," a senior diplomat says.
French President Jacques Chirac,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian foreign minister Sergei Ivanaov
and Israeli deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres were among those who involved
India in long-distance telephonic-diplomacy Vajpayee congratulated his
British counterpart for being one of the first world leaders to make it
clear that Islam should not be identified with terrorism. "Our Prime Minister
has also made the point about not equating Islam with terrorism and it
seems to have gone down well with the people both inside and outside India,"
says an official in the ministry of external affairs.
India's first knee-jerk reaction
seems to be a thing of the past. It is now clear that India is not going
to be a direct player at all. Instead, having offered "all cooperation"
to the US, India's focus has shifted to looking at contingency plans. "It
is based on the collateral dimension or the impact of the US military action
in Afghanistan," says a senior policy-maker of the Vajpayee government.
The policy is aimed at addressing
two goals: First, to ensure that India is not out of the loop in the vast
coalition against global terrorism that the Americans are trying to put
in place. Second, to assess the domestic ramifications of strikes and their
aftermath.
For instance, there could be an
increase in infiltration or rise in the influx of refugees into India once
the US military strikes begin in Afghanistan. The government is also concerned
about the possibility of "copy-cat" strikes by terrorists and armed rebel
groups in different parts of India. Already, the cabinet secretary has
started meeting representatives from different states to sensitise them
about the evolving situation.
Even Bush has admitted, "It is going
to be a long haul." New Delhi is getting ready for it.
