US puts India back on 'glide
path' By Sultan Shahin
NEW
DELHI - United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage ran into a lot of frost in Delhi's summer heat
over the issue of former Indian defense minister George
Fernandes allegedly being strip-searched in US airports
on official visits a few years ago. But he was able to
break the ice with his Indian counterparts during his
just-finished two-day visit with profuse apologies over
the affair and promises to talk to Pakistan about the
continued existence of the infrastructure to export
terrorism there.
The Indian government,
trying to put the strip-search affair behind it, focused
on developing closer ties with the US, even though
large segments of the country would like to see American visitors to
India harassed in a similar vein as Fernandes was. An
editorial in the Hindustan Times argued: "India, with a
much more tangible threat of terrorism, has a better
reason to insist on such an arrangement. After all, a
number of US nationals have been charged for
collaborating with the Taliban and their likes. In
contrast, no Indian of any religious profession has been
found in the same situation."
Despite this atmosphere,
both countries stressed promoting the bilateral
relationship, as well as discussing issues of global
concern, including likely cooperation in third
countries such as Iraq. The two sides are also reported
to have sorted out their difficulties over the transfer
of high technology from the US to India as part of the
"quartet" issues, including the sale of possible
dual-use components from third countries to India.
While offering his own apologies over the
strip-search affair, US Ambassador to India David
Mulford had told journalists last week that while New
Delhi was willing to give assurances that it would not
use directly imported high-technology items in its
space, nuclear and missile programs, there still
remained issues to be sorted out on imports from third
parties. Armitage said on Wednesday that no more
problems existed on this count and that it was a
"win-win situation" between India and US.
Indian
government officials apprised Armitage of a number of
ideas that India was contemplating as part of its effort
to participate in Iraq's reconstruction. Armitage said
he made "no request for troops" to the Indian
government, but pointed out that "there are many ways in
which India thinks it can be helpful".
It seems the US has for now given up the idea of
India sending its troops to Iraq. It instead wants to concentrate
on Pakistan for troops. This is also seen in the
selection of Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, former Pakistani high
commissioner to India and currently ambassador to the
US, as the United Nations' special envoy to Iraq. This
seems to have cemented Pakistan's "major non-North
Atlantic Treaty Organization ally" relationship with the
US.
There is particular appreciation in India of
Armitage's comments on Pakistan, especially as he
traveled to Islamabad after his India visit. Asked
whether he believed Pakistan had dismantled its
terrorist-export infrastructure, Armitage said,
"Clearly, all the infrastructure and cross-border
support activities have not been dismantled. Some
infrastructure has been dismantled, but the level of
infiltration was still too high." India reportedly gave
him a thorough briefing on the rising graph of militant
activities in Kashmir.
Asked by reporters if he
was satisfied that terrorism had come down in Kashmir,
he replied that "people were dying in Kashmir and that
was not acceptable. We will talk to Pakistan about it."
Armitage also indicated that New Delhi had assured that
it would talk to all Kashmiris and that he would pass
this message on to Pakistan.
In Pakistan,
though, Armitage pledged to speed up the delivery of
military equipment to help Pakistan pursue its "war
against terrorists". Armitage said that Washington would
accelerate its review of a list of military hardware,
including helicopters and surveillance equipment,
requested by Pakistan earlier this year. Armitage did,
though, repeat the charge he made in India that not all
the camps in Pakistan used to train militants to launch
attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir had been
dismantled.
Asia Times Online sources in the
Ministry of External Affairs disclosed that India had
sought Armitage's help in convincing Pakistan that it
should not obstruct Indian efforts to talk to separatist
Kashmiri leaders. Kashmiri secessionist leaders have
been blowing hot recently, possibly with the
encouragement of Islamabad. The suspicion arises because
there has been a distinct change in their tone recently,
particularly since they met Pakistan Foreign Secretary
Riaz Khokhar.
Meanwhile, it has become clear
that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government intends
to develop better trade and other ties with the US,
despite the Congress Party's past focus on non-alignment
in foreign affairs. As the party that first insisted on
introducing computers in India's work-culture, despite
much resistance in the 1980s from the powerful trade
unions, the Congress knows the value of India pursuing
the path of high technology. It is also well aware that
transfer of technology from the developed West is not
possible without US support. No wonder Singh's United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is all for
continued close engagement and fostering of strategic
ties with the US, the world's leading high-tech power.
Supporters of closer India-US ties keep
reminding India of what former Singapore strongman Lee
Kuan Yew advocated. Benign strategic ties with the US
foster better trade, said Lee. The Indian experience of
the past few years tends to support this. India's
economy has done well since American sanctions were
lifted.
The UPA government is as such prepared
to risk even the displeasure of its communist allies to
foster close ties with the US. Even the recent budget
indicates as much. The budget proposes to raise foreign
direct investment in insurance, civil aviation and the
telecom sector. It is no secret that the big players in
these sectors, particularly insurance, come from the US.
American lobbyists have been the most active in
promoting liberalization in these areas.
Despite
the media focus on issues like the terrorist
infrastructure in Pakistan, troops to Iraq and the
strip-search affair, it seems the main subject of
discussion during the Armitage visit was the "Next Steps
in Strategic Partnership" (NSSP) initiative - announced
simultaneously on January 12 by US President George W
Bush in Washington and then Indian prime minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi. Essentially, the NSSP
involves what Secretary of State Colin Powell said was
the "glide path" to this partnership, characterized by
an expansion of cooperation in the fields of civilian
nuclear activities, civilian space programs and
high-tech trade, (ballistic missile defense being an
afterthought).
The promises of the transfer of
high technology include civilian advanced reactors, and
technological collaboration in space. Leftist
commentators quote senior Bush administration officials
as having admitted that the "glide path" is a diplomatic
ploy and no real high-value technology is in the
pipeline, at least not until Washington gains real
confidence in India, which may be the same as New Delhi
doing what it is asked to do by the US.
Important differences, even with the
pro-American Vajpayee government, however, prevented the
two sides from arriving at a "closure" on discussions on
high-tech transfers. Nevertheless, the Congress-led
government has clearly decided to risk the Left's
displeasure, disregard their warnings and carry on from
where the last government left off.
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