NEW DELHI, Sept 8: Major opposition parties in India said on Monday they would stage countrywide protests during the visit of the Israeli prime minister to protest “a betrayal of the Palestinian cause” by New Delhi.
Mr Sharon arrived here on Monday evening amid unusually tight security and was escorted directly to a sanitized hotel. Indian President Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will formally receive him at the presidential palace on Tuesday.
India’s rightwing nationalist administration has evaded questions about virtually abandoning New Delhi’s traditional pro-Arab policies. In fact, Mr Vajpayee, pressed by reporters to clarify the stance on the Palestinian issue on Monday, parried the query, saying: “We have taken a principled stand on the issue.”
He also said India’s relations with Israel would be “further strengthened” by the visit. For Pakistan, and possibly also for China, the comment could hold worrying possibilities, diplomats said.
Although no contracts are due to be signed, the two countries will negotiate the final steps for the acquisition by India of Israel’s highly coveted Phalcon airborne radar system.
Diplomatic sources say the billion-dollar deal, recently okayed by the United States, could give India an outright and formidable air superiority over Pakistan. Israel had to cancel a similar deal with China following Washington’s disapproval.
India badly needs the early-warning and control Phalcon systems apart from Israel’s unmanned aerial vehicles, Arrow anti-missile system technology, ship-based surface to air missile Barak, and an early warning radar and sensory gear for troops in high altitude, diplomats said.
Indian defence ministry officials confirmed what was in store. “The two countries are going to have intensive defence dialogue ranging from New Delhi’s negotiations to procure the Phalcon Awacs system to talks on Arrow anti-defence missile system and the proposed joint ventures on building in India of unmanned aerial vehicles for all the three services,” a defence ministry official said.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali had recently told an Indian TV channel that Delhi’s India’s efforts for establishing closer ties with Tel Aviv was of no concern to Pakistan because it regarded the issue as an internal affair of India.
However, a Pakistani diplomat told Dawn that there were worries. “Any defence deal between India and Israel has a serious implication for Pakistan. We cannot be expected to ignore it or be relaxed about it.”
Muslim groups across India are expected to join the influential leftist parties to protest Mr Sharon’s visit.
Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet, secretary general of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), wrote to Mr Vajpayee asking him to clarify his stand on Palestine.
The government will have to explain as to whether it continues “to support the creation of an independent state of Palestine in accordance with all relevant UN resolutions, including Security Council resolutions No 242 of Nov 22, 1967, and No 338 of Oct 22, 1973,” Mr Surjeet said.
The opposition also seeks a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. It also wants dismantlement of all Israeli settlements from the occupied territories.
The Israeli premier is accompanied by a 15-member defence delegation consisting of officials from the Israeli defence ministry and chief executives of the country’s leading defence firms.
These include the chairman of state-owned Israeli Aircraft Industries, Moshe Keret, chairman of Rafael, Jacob Toren, Maj Gen Amos Yaron, Director General of the defence ministry, and Gen Arie Mizrachi, chairman of the Board of Israeli Military Industries.
