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| New Delhi takes to out of box diplomacy | | | ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, June 23: Faced with increased US involvement in affairs nearer home, India has of late started asserting for its rights more resolutely before the West. Indications to this have not only been coming through the Government moves after an American corporation got virtually scot-free after 25 years of litigation starting off with Bhopal gas tragedy but also by certain other gestures emanating from New Delhi.
he most significant among these is the homage that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has paid to 329 victims of the crash of Air India Flight No.182 who lost their lives in the tragedy that occurred 25 years ago on this day -- June 23 -- in 1985 and is famously known after the aircraft’s name as Kanishka midair crash over deep seas after taking flight from Canada.
A probe commission appointed after the tragedy has recently blamed Canadian Government and lack of coordination between various security and intelligence agencies of Canada for the crash. The commission’s report came soon after the Canadian Government denied visas to certain Indian Army personnel citing “scant regard” given to human rights by Indian security forces in country’s troubled regions like Jammu and Kashmir.
India had protested over this move by the Canadian High Commission here. All this has happened when Canada is hosting the G-20 summit beginning June 26 where Manmohan Singh has been invited to participate besides for having bilateral talks with his Canadian counterpart during the visit.
And yet somehow Prime Minister’s office here today released a statement by Manmohan Singh, recounting the tragic Kanishka bombing and paying homage to its victims. The statement said, “This year marks the 25th anniversary of the crash of Air India Flight 182 that led to the loss of 329 innocent lives.
“This was a horrific incident which shook the world's conscience. It is with a sense of deep pain and sorrow that I join the families and friends in paying my homage to all those who fell victim to this most barbarous act of terrorism.
“No religion, faith or cause can justify such violence or inhumanity. On this solemn occasion, we must rededicate ourselves to fighting and eliminating terrorism with determination and joint action.”
As this statement has come days before the G-20 summit, a conclave of mainly world’s rich countries’ leaders, begins its deliberations in Toronto, it is indicative of a changing Indian approach to get over its past meekness before the West where terms and policies vis-à-vis diplomatic etiquette could be dictated to invitee countries like India.
And since the Kanishak bombing took place amid the heat of Punjab crisis and only months after the assassination of the late Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh’s today’s statement reminds of the heavy price that India has been paying because of the secessionist movements that have been finding support and sustenance from outside the country.
Moreover, this statement has come at a time when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has begun her two-day Pakistan visit for discussions with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir and a meeting with Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The nature and issues involved in these talks are the same as they were at the time of the Kanishka tragedy with the only difference that this time it is vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir as against Punjab in those days.
Rao is also supposed to leave Islamabad on the evening of June 25 for Toronto to join the delegation accompanying Manmohan Singh for the G-20 summit. And soon after her departure from Pakistan’s Capital, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram would be arriving in Islamabad to attend a meeting of Interior Ministers of the South Asian region and also hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik and possibly with other Pakistani higher ups about issues that have, indeed, been pushing the region to the brink. |
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