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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JPR who wrote (10664)	2/12/2000 5:59:00 PM
From: JPR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Vajpayee wants Indian diaspora to present India's case to the world CTBT and other alphabet-soup acronyms - put in cold storage or (is it) back burner or (is it) hot water. hinduonline.com Mr. Vajpayee invited the Persons of Indian Origin to become India's spokesman and ``to strongly articulate India's case to the various constituencies in your adopted countries'. The Prime Minister wanted them to spell out ``on a more sustained basis' India's stand on ``Kashmir, our strong secular tradition and State-sponsored terrorism, which has actually become a menace to global peace and security.' NEW DELHI, FEB. 12. The Prime Minister, Mr.Atal Behari Vajpayee, has rejected, once again, any American role in resolving the India- Pakistan tensions. Without mentioning the U.S. by name, the Prime Minister has categorically noted that India would "not allow others to meddle in our bilateral relations or problems". Mr. Vajpayee chose to reiterate this formulation at a conference of Persons of Indian Origin here this morning. Indeed prime ministerial aides were keen to draw attention to the operative paragraph towards the end of Mr. Vajpayee's speech. It was explained that the Prime Minister was responding to various suggestions emanating from a number of American officials that Washington would necessarily have to take some initiative to sort out the ``Kashmir issue'. In recent days the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, the Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, the Defence Secretary, Mr. William Cohen, and others have talked of ``Kashmir' and of American interest in sorting out tensions between India and Pakistan. The cumulative message from Washington has not given any comfort. Politically, the Vajpayee Government is not positioned to be seen as making any concessions on an American role in the India- Pakistan stand-off. The Prime Minister is under pressure, on the one hand, from the ``nationalist' hard-liners of the RSS variety, and the Congress(I), on the other. A Congress(I) delegation called on the Prime Minister this evening to register its disapproval of the Government's apparent willingness to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty during the U.S. President's visit to India in the third week of March. Any suggestion of the Vajpayee regime's countenancing an American role would provoke serious domestic backlash. In fact, a section of the prime ministerial aides does not share the enthusiasm and excitement of the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, over Mr. Clinton's visit to India; this group believes India's diplomatic gains from the Clinton visit would most probably be neutralised by his visit to Pakistan, which, according to it, appears imminent. Moreover, these aides believe that should the Clinton visit generate too much expectation and too little outcome, it could even set back the economic ties between the two countries. The operative part of the Prime minister's formulation, inserted this morning at the last minute, reads: ``Today's India is a self-confident India, marching ahead to economic prosperity and social justice and equality. Today's India is ready to play its part in shaping a new and equitable international order. While we will not brook interference in our internal affairs or allow others to meddle in our bilateral relations or problems, we are ready to engage with any country in a cooperative framework.' Mr. Vajpayee invited the Persons of Indian Origin to become India's spokesman and ``to strongly articulate India's case to the various constituencies in your adopted countries'. The Prime Minister wanted them to spell out ``on a more sustained basis' India's stand on ``Kashmir, our strong secular tradition and State-sponsored terrorism, which has actually become a menace to global peace and security.' The Prime Minister noted with satisfaction that ``perhaps there is no other nation in the world that has such a widely dispersed diaspora' and observed that Indian civilisation was founded on the principle of ``Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - the entire world is one family'.