National Security Advisor and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra is all set to emerge as India’s key interlocutor with the US in the ongoing dialogue on critical issues of nuclear technology, space and hi-tech cooperation. According to highly-placed sources, Mishra has been designated as the principal interlocutor for interactions with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Also, he will remain in constant touch with his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice. This step was taken in consultation with External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal. The government wanted as interlocutor ‘‘a man who could take political decisions’’ on the so-called trinity issues rather than a senior bureaucrat. The assessment is that the US policy towards India will be largely guided by Armitage and Hadley, who they feel are focussed on, as well as favourably disposed towards, India. (US Secretary of State Colin Powell is seen to be more involved in firefighting global crises for the Bush administration and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has Iraq on his mind.) It was Armitage who arm-twisted Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf into giving a commitment to ‘‘permanently’’ end cross-border infiltration and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure at the height of India-Pakistan tensions last June. Sources said that Mishra was the obvious choice as he has the weight and clout to push the Indian mandate with the US State Department besides having the ear of Vajpayee. He met Hadley while the US official visited New Delhi last month. The name of Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh was considered by the South Block but he was apparently found to be not clued in to these sensitive issues. Singh is no longer a favourite of the South Block, particularly after he went on record that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would attend the now-postponed SAARC summit in Islamabad. Deputy National Advisor Satish Chandra was also a candidate for engaging his US counterpart but it was ruled out as Hadley has a larger profile and handles Washington’s policy on issues such as defence exports, dual use technology besides security. New Delhi is keen on having an intensive engagement with the US on the trinity issues even though it is fully aware of the strong non-proliferation lobby in the State Department. Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal is expected to meet his US counterpart Under Secretary (Political) Marc Grossman in Washington in the first week of February. He will also meet Under Secretary (Global Affairs) Paula Dobriansky and Under Secretary (Export Administration) Kenneth Juster. The MEA has also asked for a meeting between Sibal and Armitage. For sometime now, India has been suggesting to Washington that the Indo-US ties on sensitive issues should not be kept hostage of the Cold-War era and the P-5 club. South Block has conveyed to Washington that it is about time the bilteral relationship went past non-proliferation regimes that are discriminatory towards India. It has pointed out that proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is not from developed to the developing countries but from certain developing countries pooling their resources. North Korea and Pakistan shared their resources once they had the nuclear and missile technology from China.
