India scores over Pak at NAM

Speaking to reporters later, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh ruled out initiating talks with Pakistan at this stage when relations between the two countries are volatile. “There is not much scope for testing the waters. It has been tested time and again,” he replied tersely when asked why India was spurning Pakistan’s offers for a dialogue.

Jaswant explained: “I say the issue is not public relations but the substance of bilateral relations. General Musharraf keeps on saying he’s ready for talks anytime anywhere. But look what has been happening: Kargil, hijacking, Chitti Singhpora. You have a situation here where for the sake of public relations you say something but do not mean it. Do you call it bilateral relations?”

Incidentally, according to observers, the three-day meet of NAM Foreign Ministers that concluded this evening saw some desperate attempts by Pakistan to cloak its military leadership with at least a semblance of legitimacy but to no avail. Not a single country agreed to publicly endorse the current leadership, remarked a senior MEA official with a chuckle. In yet another development, which India is viewing as another diplomatic victory, the NAM declaration for the first time condemned the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.

On the issue of tightening the screws on unconstitutional governments, Jaswant disclosed they had considerable negotiations with several key players. “We garnered considerable support from a number of African, Latin American and Asian countries,” he said.

The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a forum often used by Pakistan to push its anti-India resolutions, was finally put in its place. NAM, point out MEA officials, has agreed to welcome the forthcoming OIC summit but only on the condition that it would reciprocate by not attacking individual NAM members and would adhere to NAM principles whenever making any reference to the member countries.

“We have every reason to be entirely satisfied with the meet. Significant gains have been made by India. Now there is much greater recognition within NAM of India’s true position,” Jaswant remarked.

The 63-page declaration issued after the meeting said: “We welcome the decision of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Algiers in July 1999 calling for the restoration, before the next OAU summit, of constitutional legality in states whose governments have come to power through unconstitutional means.

“We strongly recommend that this issue be considered by the movement at the next summit” at Dhaka next year, it said.