EU snub on Pak eclipses all gains

Clearly, Rasmussen went overboard and had to eat the humble pie the next day in the face of pressure from other EU nations and India, but the chill in ties with Denmark could hardly be concealed.

There was a world of difference between Vajpayee’s tense look at the Copenhagen press conference and his demeanour at the dinner hosted by the Indian High Commission in London.

It was indeed a tragedy that the convergence of the EU and India on economic cooperation was completely overshadowed by irritants on the Kashmir issue.

If any efforts were made by the External Affairs Ministry to shift the focus from the political failure to the economic success, they were too feeble to have any credibility.

It is worth pondering whether this country should lay so much emphasis on condemnation of Pakistani involvement in terrorism and thereby show itself up as a weakling or whether it should adopt a more confident demeanour by hardselling its new economic strength.

By crying wolf over Pak-exported terrorism, are we not unwittingly lending credibility to the Pakistani propaganda that Kashmir is not a bilateral issue but an international issue?

Let’s face it, we are leagues ahead of Pakistan now in economic strength. Should we not then be negotiating with countries from a position of strength?

Doesn’t our insistence on Pakistan’s condemnation not dilute the economic muscle we have acquired with a market of upwardly mobile people that is larger than the population of entire Europe?

If there were gains made in Copenhagen in the economic summit prior to the political one, it was as much a product of the aggressive marketing by CII and FICCI as the result of the refreshingly pragmatic approach of Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie.

Sensibly, in Cyprus at least, the refrain of the Indians was clearly economic. President Clerides did condemn Pakistani cross-border terrorism but the joint statement skirted the issue. Yet, no fuss was made by the Indian team on the nuances of Cyprus’ response.

In London, like in Copenhagen, economic cooperation seemed to have taken a back seat. Yet, it was sweet music to our ears to hear the British PM endorse India’s stand on cross-border terrorism.

There can be little doubt that this hardening of British attitude towards Pakistan and the EU Council President’s volte face on cross-border terrorism were the result of the perception of India’s growing economic stature.

It is this that we must capitalise on. As for Pakistan, we must make it clear to the international community that we are capable of dealing with it on our own.