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| ‘I am the boss’: SM Krishna | | | ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, JAN 3: Close on the heels of the China visit by Indian Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, beginning Tuesday, the Union External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has expressed concern over Beijing’s involvement in several projects in the Pak Occupied Kashmir besides supply of armaments to Pakistan.
Though Krishna himself is slated to visit Beijing in April this year and he said here today while presenting the year-end review of his Ministry before the media that despite differences over several issues India did not see them in antagonistic terms, he also pointed out that India lived in a difficult neighbourhood.
The timing of these remarks is such that these may well queer the pitch for the military level talks between the two countries led by India’s Defence Secretary and his Chinese equivalent.
In any case the Ministry of Defence had issued a year-end review a few days ago where it had dealt with the Chinese part as looked after by it. The report says with regard to China’s defence modernisation and close cooperation with Pakistan that Beijing would be engaged “to seek greater transparency and openness in its defence policy and posture while taking all necessary measures to protect the national security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.”
It seems that Krishna tried to paraphrase this in the year-end review of his Ministry where he also clarified that Jammu and Kashmir is India’s integral part and therefore the activities by the Chinese in the areas held by Pakistan were “illegal”. He said that neither China nor Pakistan had any locus standi vis-à-vis Jammu Kashmir, meaning on both sides of the border that the State cuts across.
Assertive though this may sound on the part of the Minister and there may not be any divergence of views between his Ministry and that of Defence on this, yet the question is as for the need to hoist this at a time when a top-level Defence Ministry delegation is going to visit China and why the elaboration of this kind couldn’t be left to the delegation and the military officials on it.
Krishna could have well done by pointing out that such a delegation was about to visit Beijing for discussing all outstanding issues as well as mutual ties.
Yet as one would remember only a few days ago the Minister has been embroiled in a controversy with a different stand taken by his junior Minister Shashi Tharoor over visa norms for foreign tourists where Krishna had said that he was the “boss” of the External Affairs Ministry and thus would have the final say over all such matters.
Perhaps today Krishna was just proving this where he made a policy statement vis-à-vis China that is well within his right but his remarks not only came after being said in the annual review report of the Defence Ministry but also on the eve of a top level military delegation’s China visit.
Similarly, Krishna was assertive today vis-à-vis Australia where he demanded action against those who killed an Indian resident from Punjab in Melbourne. But until the other day when Australia among other countries like USA, UK and Canada was exhorting its citizens not to visit Inidia through issuing travel advisory, the External Affairs Ministry did try to dispel these fears yet without asking Australians as to how safe were Indians in their country.
This like today’s remarks vis-à-vis China point that the foreign policy is yet to find its mean under the present boss.
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