NEW DELHI: Outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell might not have had much say in Washington's critical policy decisions in Iraq, North Korea and Iran, but he managed to jar India on several issues that resulted in a less than happy relationship with New Delhi.

Powell's tenure was marked by several utterances and steps, which never went down well with the Indian establishment. The US state secretary had a penchant for public diplomacy on India-Pakistan issues that have not been appreciated by foreign policy mandarins here.

He has been blamed for lacking sensitivity and imagination in dealing with India as well as maintaining the delicate balance between India and Pakistan. "It is an unstated rule that India prefers all US apprehensions to be dealt with an element of secrecy, given the high decibel jingoism associated with even a whimper of giving in to the superpower," a senior official with the foreign ministry. " The US foreign policy under Powell broke this dictum."

On Monday, Powell announced his resignation as state secretary from the second Bush administration. US President George W. Bush, in turn, announced on Tuesday that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was his choice as the new secretary of state.

If confirmed in the post by the US Senate, Rice will be the first black female secretary of state. Earlier this year, Powell announced the designation of Pakistan as a 'major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally' (not a big deal, actually) a few hours before one-to-one meetings with the Indian leadership - without hinting about any such move.

But it embarrassed India and added to the belief that when it comes to the war on terror, the US has a blinkered view of going about tackling the malaise by siding with Pakistan.

By keeping Pakistan happy, Washington was ignoring India's long-standing complaint that its neighbour harbours terrorists that are equally dangerous to India, US and the rest of the world.

More recently (curiously, before the US elections held on Nov 2), the U.S. secretary of state took credit for initiating telephone calls between the leadership of India and Pakistan that led to the eventual peace process that began in January this year.

That, however, has not been taken too kindly here. The last impression that any government in India wants to create is the fact that the talks with Pakistan are at the instance of Washington - which never goes down well with the Indian population.

Former Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh was livid when Powell claimed that it was due to his considerable skills in patching calls together that India and Pakistan began their current 'thaw'.

"For Powell to suggest that he set it all up is the height of imagination," Singh told reporters. "I do not know that apart from formulating foreign policy, the State Department also acts as a telephone exchange and as an elocution instructor for South Asia," Singh said, adding Powell's comments were "objectionable."

According to another former foreign minister of India, Yashwant Sinha who enjoyed a good relationship with Powell, the current peace efforts between India and Pakistan are bilateral in nature without any prodding from anybody. Sinha was appointed India's external affairs minister, under the previous government, on July 1, 2002, against the backdrop of a new geo-political reality of the post 9/11 world.

While on India-Pakistan relations, India is still smarting under the sanctions imposed on two Indian scientists for selling nuclear secrets, in the absence of any bit of evidence while the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme A Q Khan, is scot-free in the face of the most damning proof of peddling nuclear arsenal to Europe and Iran.

Powell, a former four-star general, assiduously promoted US ties with the military regime of Pakistan, while trying to keep a public profile of a balanced relationship between the two countries

Indeed, the feeling here is that Powell did have as much of a say as he did in India-Pakistan relations as the "hard liners" within the Bush administration who really called the shots.

Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not consider it politically or financially prudent to spend too much time on subjects concerning this region, and so Powell was relatively free to lay down policy decisions.

But there were differences in the treatment of China though, with Cheney and Rumsfeld, of the view that India and Japan be co-opted to rein the Asian giant in contrast with Powell's pro-China thoughts. -Dawn/The Inter Press News Service.