NEW DELHI, Oct 26: India said on Saturday a clear no to any likelihood of early bilateral talks with Pakistan as Prime Minister Atal Behari grappled with a string of domestic crises that threatened to forestall his visit to Islamabad to attend a regional summit of Saarc countries in January.
As a serious political crises brewed in Uttar Pradesh, where he faced a revolt from within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against its own coalition government, Vajpayee was handed a terse warning of an imminent financial collapse of India similar to the former Soviet Union if economic reforms were not intensified.
Star News said “fresh doubts have been raised” whether Vajpayee will attend the Saarc summit in Islamabad in January. Addressing senior armed force commanders in Delhi, Vajpayee said: “Pakistan is sabotaging the multilateral forum by bringing up bilateral issues, something prohibited in Saarc meetings,” Star News said.
“Vajpayee’s statement at a time when troops are being recalled from frontline positions is a clear indicator that the rhetoric between India and Pakistan is not being toned down,” Star News said.
He said: “It has always been India’s position that regional cooperation in South Asia should not be held hostage by bilateral political differences between member countries. But we have reached a strange situation where every worthwhile proposal for economic cooperation is being systematically sabotaged on irrational fears and political considerations.”
Star News quoted Admiral K. K. Nayyar, Chairman of Security and Strategic Studies, as agreeing with Vajpayee.
“The prime minister is stating the factual position that while we have always stood for excellent bilateral relations and economic cooperation in the Saarc, Pakistan has consistently been of the position that they will not grant us MFN status and come really in the way of expanding trade,” Nayyar said.
Indian officials have said yes and no with equal vagueness about Vajpayee’s visit in January, partly because of an uncertain interlocutor that would greet the meeting from Pakistan and also because of a domestic crisis between the BJP and its rightwing offshoots.
“Despite earlier indicators that Vajpayee would attend the Saarc summit in Islamabad, it appears that for the moment it is a policy of wait and watch before any final decision is made,” Star News said.
The United News of India went even further, quoting Vajpayee at the same meeting as ruling out the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan soon.
Vajpayee said the 10-month deployment on the border had forced the international community to acknowledge that the killing of innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir was not freedom struggle but ‘naked terrorism’ driven by Islamabad, according to UNI.
“We would not talk with Pakistan while the terrorist’s guns are held on our heads. Most countries have accepted the validity of our position that we can have a meaningful dialogue only if cross-border terrorism stops,” Vajpayee told the Combined Commanders conference.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha also addressed the conference, UNI said.
Vajpayee was to address the conference on Wednesday, but the meeting had to be deferred in view of his indisposition.
Vajpayee said after the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, even foreign observers had admitted that the residual insurgency was foreign in conception, participation and execution.
“But we do not see any hint of a genuine desire on the part of Pakistan to substitute terrorism with dialogue,” he added.
Although most foreign observers were expecting India to resume talks with Pakistan after the controversial polls in Kashmir, these goals appear to have shifted.
UP CRISIS: The crisis in Uttar Pradesh where a BJP-supported government seemed headed for inner party rebellions has turned into a major headache for Vajpayee who also has to marshal his resources to win impending polls in strife-torn Gujarat.
The BJP insiders admit friendly ties with Pakistan would not be seen as helpful for a party that thrives on a line approach to its neighbours, including Islamabad and Dhaka. Ten other state polls are due next year ahead of general elections in 2004.
Moreover, with little to show for his economic management, the Vajpayee government appeared to be making a grim confession of the state of affairs on Saturday.
Senior pro-reforms minister Arun Shourie observed that India could go the Soviet Union way if its economy was not managed well particularly its finances.
“We may have atomic weapons but if we do not manage our governmental finances well, or if we let our foreign exchange reserves slip and have to turn to the IMF, we will be squeezed into submission,” he said delivering a lecture on ‘Forging a National Will’ in New Delhi.
“We will be vulnerable and not in spite of our atomic weapons but because of them. The way the Soviet Union collapsed yesterday, the way Russia and Pakistan can be pressurised today are ready warnings,” he said.