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| What is shifting New Delhi’s ‘sands of times’ on Kashmir? | | |
ABID SHAH
New Delhi, Oct 30: Is there a big boss applauding from behind the top Indian leadership, given the new pitch it is laying down to bring back peace to the troubled Valley of Kashmir and ease tension through the Indo-Pak border? Or, is New Delhi alone resorting to impressive statesmanship without Srinagar or Islamabad warming up to reciprocate?
Answers to these questions may not be easy to find. Yet indications are that the sands of time are shifting. But courtesy whom? There may be a clue to this and many more similar strategic and diplomatic questions in a forthcoming or and rather soon to be published book, Shifting Superpowers: The New and Emerging relationship between the United States, China and India. It has been written by the famed journalist and analyst Martin Sieff who has formerly been managing editor of international affairs for UPI – United Press International, and now writes columns for The Globalist.
Strangely, Sieff says that the India’s relations to the United States are now not as warm as they used to be and that the US gives too much importance to China. The reason given by him is that the traditional Indian friendship with the Democrats in America has gone awry ever since India warmed up and became too friendly with the George W Bush’s regime where New Delhi’s options got constricted vis-à-vis the Democrats whose ascent became certain through Bush’s second term in office.
Talking about his new book to Indian-born journalist Shyam Bhatia for Asian Affairs, a monthly published from London, Sieff recently said most US leaders have been obsessed with China and astonishingly blind to the strategic, global and diplomatic importance of India.
When viewed against the current visit of the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to Pakistan and that of former President Bush to India, the words of Sieff not only sound more convincing but also their hosts utterances fall in a US designed pattern.
The other day Clinton talked in Lahore of great trade potential between India and Pakistan whereas Bush is expected to give his piece of mind about what can be best for the subcontinent tomorrow here at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Manmohan Singh today set the tone while inaugurating the summit this morning in order to make not only tomorrow’s distinguished guest and speaker feel at home but also to ease things through India’s entire neighbourhood.
The Prime Minister observed, “India seeks a neighbourhood of peace and progress. We wish our neighbours well. We would like to see them develop and wipe out poverty and overcome the burden of history and we would like to work with them to achieve these goals. India is always happy to extend a helpful and supportive hand to all our neighbours. We wish to see democracy to take deep roots in all these countries so that the people of South Asia are truly empowered to take their destiny into their own hands.”
These words, indeed, appear to be paraphrased from what Manmohan Singh has been saying for past two days during his sojourn through the cooler climes of Kashmir with hardly any alterations except those as to suit the changed venue.
Observers watching him and other hosts and guests not over here alone but also those sharing conviviality across the borders have a different take. They say not just Manmohan Singh or Yousaf Raza Gilani right from the bonhomie at Sharm-el-Sheikh but their deputies like P Chidambaram and Maehmood Qureshi too are orchestrating similar tunes through their quiet and backchannel diplomacies. The reason for this is that both the leaderships want to please far off Yankee galleries without bothering how much the entire neighbourhood is getting amused.
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