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Kadirgamar mission : India’s no to SAARC summit |
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The twin purpose of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar’s visit to New Delhi last week was to discuss bilateral relations as well as the need for holding the long delayed SAARC summit about which a kind of impasse prevails following India’s decision in November last year to seek postponement of the Nepal summit because Mr. Vajpayee did not want to sit in the company of a man, Gen. Musharraf, who had masterminded the Kargil intrusion and toppled a democratically elected government. Though after talks with External Affairs Minister Mr. Jaswant, Mr. Kadirgamar, who later flew to Nepal, admitted that a summit meeting was a long way off, he said to have received assurances that India would not object to the meetings of the technical committees.
Sri Lanka, which had hosted the last summit in Colombo in July 1998, and in that capacity was the chairman of the grouping since then, was keen to pass on this responsibility to Nepal, the next host. With that end in view, Mr. Kadirgamar took up the issue with Mr. Singh but there was no advance, with the two sides restating the known arguments. The Kargil-bitten India, it was clear, was not inclined to change its stand in the absence of evidence of Pakistan ending cross-border terrorism. It was on this count that India did not want to be in the company of Pakistan and decided against participating in the December summit last year. Another reason, adduced then, was the Army action of dismissing the democratic government in Pakistan with India not quite relishing the prospect of an Army general at the summit. Under the SAARC charter, all decisions, including that on holding the summit meetings are to be taken consensus.
It was on these two counts tat New Delhi also chose not to resume the bilateral dialogue with Pakistan. With the passage of time, contacts with the military ruler were not considered a taboo; besides, India had dealt with military dictators in Pakistan in the past, from field Marshal Ayub Khan to general Zia-ul-Haq. With the improvement in the ground situation in the wake of New Delhi’s ceasefire in jammu and kashmir, talks with Pakistan, at an official level, to begin with, are considered in the realm, of possibility. But it is difficult to be equally optimistic about the SAARC summit. Some months ago, India did not accept the idea of a SAARC ministerial meeting at New York, a customary get-together at the time of the UN General Assembly session. Mr. Kadirgamar now suggested a new beginning with a meeting of the “standing committee”, comprising foreign secretaries of the member countries. India was not quite enthusiastic but agreed to consider it in the light of the experience in the meetings of the technical committees, relating to different subjects, which had not been suspended. The review could be held, as seen by New Delhi, if the progress of the technical committees in the first quarter of the next year is considered satisfactory.
According to India, Pakistan had even used the technical committees to push forward its agenda, with suggestions for changing the SAARC procedure and the charter and widening the scope of its functioning. It was only at the last officials level meeting that Pakistan did not voice the familiar objections but that get-together was informal.
In India, an important section of non-official opinion favoured an early resumption of the summit process which was considered necessary for a desirable objective - of generating a new momentum for cooperative activities in various areas, particularly in trade and economic matters. At the Colombo summit, the South Asia preferential trade regime received a big push, while some decisions were taken on preliminary steps for the next stage - of a free trade regime. That profess has slowed down. The change in New Delhi’s line on the summit could revive the earlier interest.
Political observers say, Pakistan which has been crying hoarse over India’s “obstructionist’ role needs to rethink its attitude. Going by its past approach, it had invariably been lukeward to suggestions for increased economic cooperation and a husslefree trade regime. It had not been apologetic about mixing politics and economics and had sought to link an advance on the economic front to a solution of political problems in other words, to the solution of the Kashmir issue. That being its record, it does not lie in Pakistan’s mouth to blame India for the setback in SAARC affairs. Pakistan has not fulfilled even an elementary requirement of multilateral trade relations under the WTO, and withheld a decision on according the most-favoured nation treatment to India which, because of its misleading misnomer, is not palatable to most political parties, and comes handy to them in spreading misunderstandings about what is a routine arrangement for economic dealings.
Though India appreciates Sri Lanka’s efforts in reviving SAARC, especially as it would not like the organisation to become moribund under its presidentship, some analysts are a bit concerned at what they see as the island country’s “over-enthusiastic activism”. According to one, “By trying to get SAARC going, Sri Lanka is equating the stands of both countries and almost falling for Pakistan’s claim that it is India that has stalled the Association. Sri Lanka should tell the Pakistanis that India is not against any of the other SAARC related activities, including the preferential Trade Agreement and it is Pakistan that brings up Kashmir at every meeting.” According to officials, Pakistan’s decision not to award the Most-Favoured Nation status to India, as per the WTO agreement, is another example of Pakistan’s intransigence to participate fully in multilateral agreements.
Though Sri Lanka felt, during the height of the LTTE operations last summer, that India was being hesitant in coming out openly to aid the Sri Lankan Government, it has left no permanent dent in the friendship. The domestic political compulsions of the NDA coalition were well known to the Sri Lankans and there is now a growing admiration for the fact at Tamil politicians with extreme opinions like Mr. Vaiko have been sidelined. The burgeoning warmth can be ascertained by the fact that not only has India sold arms to Sri Lanka, but the defence and intelligence services of the two countries are coordinating efforts like never before. Both navies are working together to tackle the LTTE’s marine presence wile, intelligence is exchanged routinely. In its bid to tackle the LTTE - either by negotiations or by military means - India’s help and support is vital for Sri Lanka. The Norwegian peace process - which the Sri Lankans insist is merely a facilitation rater than mediation - is being undertaken with the full knowledge of India. Though India has said clearly that it will not involve itself in any initiatives directly. Its opinion will have tremendous bearing on the final shape of the negotiations.
Sri Lanka will also need India’s backing to push for an international campaign to get the LTTE banned, especially in western countries, where the organisation manages to survive and even thrive. Not that there are no wrinkles in these cozy ties - the Indian request for extradition of LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran, accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, is till pending notwithstanding attempts on the part of both governments to underplay its importance. It may not suit anyone to press for it, and extraditing him may not be a practical possibility, but it is not an issue that will ever go away and the recent controversy about whether India brought it up in Colombo or did not was quite a needless diversion. There is also the constant Sri Lankan worry about the presence, in the NDA coalition at the Centre, of elements who are pro-LTTE. They could raise the temperature anytime, especially when pressure on the Tiger when the spirit for talks intensifies. But, at the Government level, India and Sri Lanka are closer than they have been for a long time. And the effects are clearly visible. During Mr. Kadirgamar’s recent visit, India agreed to free Sri Lankan fishermen who had been put in Indian jails after being caught in Indian waters. Yet another manifestation of the close economic links that are emerging is the Free Trade Agreement, which is now under way and is proving quite successful. There is talk of more flights for Sri Lankan airways to fly directly to Bangalore and Hyderabad. For India, what happens in and to Sri Lanka is of vital importance, and the island country can also be a very valuable ally in a region where India has to live with many inimical neighbours.
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