New Delhi, April 8: Indian diplomats and businessmen are being nicely grilled by the more concerned foreign governments over the obvious failure by New Delhi to prevent large-scale anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in which close to 2,000 people are feared to have been massacred by rightwing Hindu fanatics, Indian news reports and foreign diplomats said on Monday.
The comments coincided with the start of a foreign tour by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who told an audience of Indians in Singapore on Monday that the “painful and sad” violence required “serious introspection.”
India’s main opposition groups though would have none of the shibboleths as they announced a massive rally in New Delhi as well as a nationwide mobilization against the government on April 17, two days after parliament resumes its budget session.
They are demanding the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, considered by the opposition and some of Vajpayee’s own allies to be the architect of the pogroms.
While some concerned countries have issued a demarche on the seemingly unending violence in Gujarat, interestingly Pakistan has refrained from going that far, confining its response perhaps to just one official comment criticizing the killing of Muslims in the border state.
The Press Trust of India quoted Vajpayee as allaying the apprehension that foreign investments might suffer because of the violence.
The Hindustan Times on Monday suggested the opposite could be the case.
“India’s inability to control the violence in Gujarat and quick reaction on Pakistan’s part have undercut New Delhi’s attempts at containing the diplomatic fallout in Arab nations of the Gujarat riots,” The Hinustan Times said.
It said Indian envoys have had to scramble to find explanations.
“In fact, in March, the Ministry of External Affairs sent a confidential message to heads of missions in the region, blaming Pakistan military and the ISI for fomenting communal violence. However, this argument failed to wash with many Arab countries as the violence continued,” the newspaper said.
“It has been difficult. Even if our mission explained to them that it was a pre-planned measure at the ISI’s behest, we were cornered on the grounds that the killing hadn’t stopped. Our image has definitely suffered,” the daily quoted an official as saying.
It said as a result of the Gujarat violence “India’s efforts to highlight the jehadi influence on Pakistan’s decision-making were severely undermined. It didn’t help that Pakistani envoys briefed the host governments about the Gujarat carnage before their slower Indian counterparts. This happened in Turkey, for instance, where the Indian ambassador was summoned by Ankara after the Pakistani ambassador had spoken.”—J.N