Call from Clinton sets the tone for talks

The initiative for the call came from Washington, highly-placed sources here said, and caps the first day of the seventh round of discussions between External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

The extremely “positive” tone of the Clinton-Vajpayee conversation did not go into the specifics of the ongoing dialogue but is bound to propel the relationship forward in more ways than one.

It shatters, at the veryleast, the myth that India continues to be in the international doghouse, and signifies an informal acceptance of India’s nuclear status.

The sources said that Talbott, on previous occasions, had carried a letter on behalf of Clinton for Vajpayee, but this is the first time he was calling him after March last year when he rang up to congratulate Vajpayee on becoming Prime Minister.

Clinton’s call also vindicates New Delhi’s position that it must keep a minimum nuclear deterrent, so as to protect national security interests, often in a hostile environment. It certainly gives Jaswant Singh the opportunity to reciprocate and show flexibility in the dialogue process.But the sources insisted that India would not give up its missileprogramme for all these reasons, and would continue to carry out research and development. Neither would it unilaterally agree to cap the production of fissile material, but engage in multilateral discussions to do so.

The sources also pointed out that for New Delhi, the basis ofan enriched, new dialogue lay in Washington giving up its opposition to multilateral funding, like from the World Bank. The US should also reduce to the basic minimum, sanctions it had imposed on nearly 200 Indian companies under the `Entities List.’

Both Singh and Talbott professed public satisfaction at the tenor of the talks this morning, with Singh terming the discussions “positive, encouraging and worthwhile.” But till late in the evening, officials from both sides were working to manage differences on these crucial issues.Essentially, the differences revolve around the varying perceptions of India’s minimum nuclear deterrent as well as what New Delhi intends to do with its missile programme.

The government sources said India certainly did not want to “repeat the mistake of 1974,” implying that since it had for seven months braved international ignominy over its nuclear tests, it was not now going to curtail its missile programme under US pressure. Among the first signs of political capitulationthat followed the 1974 nuclear tests was the description of the test as a “peaceful nuclear explosion.”

But even as research and development of these programmes continued, especially in the context of a hostile neighbourhood, New Delhi might consider a degree of flexibility on the testing of missile flights, especially long-range missiles like the Agni.

Certainly, the talks (this round is the seventh) have qualitatively shifted towards civilised dialogue, away from the name-calling and admonition adopted by the permanent nuclear states after the tests.

To begin with, India has committed itself to a signature on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty before September 1999 and has already joined an international conference that will debate a fissile material cut-off convention two key issues placed by the nuclear five, led by the US.Talbott, this morning, sought to strike a positive note, describing the “warm spirit” of the talks and saying, “From our standpoint, it has been most worthwhile and I thinkthe proof is that we are continuing our work tomorrow… I think it is high time this relationship is put on a much stronger footing.” After tomorrow’s discussions, Singh said, “we will be in a position to give you a more definitive statement.”