Friends like Hasina

This is getting a bit embarrassing. It8217;s all right to tell Washington and Beijing to stay out of South Asia. But what does one say when good neighbour Sheikh Hasina comes calling? Or if much admired friend Chandrika Kumaratunga wants to send her foreign minister out for a chat? We know where they are coming from. SAARC is supposed to work like this, neighbours coming to each other8217;s aid, not with troops though that has occurred but with words of wisdom. Of course, bilateral issues are verboten at SAARC. But this is something else. The architects of SAARC did not exclude one set of bilateral talks about another set of bilateral problems which is what Dhaka-Delhi consultations about New Delhi-Islamabad non-talks are about. Sheikh Hasina might have waited for the SAARC summit in Sri Lanka later this month to speak, one-to-one with Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif. On the other hand, she is right to feel impatient with the eternal jousting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign offices. With no date setyet for the summit, who knows, if New Delhi and Islamabad really get into the swing of things, there may not be one this month or next.

As talking shops go, SAARC has always been one of the more voluble. And there8217;s a lot more than usual on the collective agenda. Suddenly this summer, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives find themselves in the company of two nuclear powers. Naturally, they want to try and figure out what it means for each of them, for SAARC and, above all, to the two N-powers themselves. There8217;s a whole new ball game in South Asia and five residents feel a little local umpiring would do good. Indeed, one or two of the SAARC-5 may well think it8217;s a mug8217;s game and the sooner it is ended, the better. So, it would be most uncivil to turn down their good offices, if offered, as interference. And quite silly and pompous to trot out the standard forumla: 8220;It is India8217;s consistent stand that bilateral issues be discussed bilaterally8221;. Having had grandstand seats throughout thelast decade8217;s quarrels, Colombo and Dhaka are quite entitled to think that, left to themselves, India and Pakistan will never hold a dialogue.

There are, of course, too many crossed wires to worry about once the SAARC-5 are allowed to get active. Each has its own standpoint and particular reading of the new situation. There is no saying whom they intend to mediate between given that India and Pakistan8217;s tests have upset a lot of people. It was thought unwise, for example, for New Delhi to entertain Sri Lanka8217;s foreign minister when he wanted to help restore good relations between India and China. If Nepal or Dhaka were eager to do the same thing, who would dispute their good intentions? No country can be so all-knowing as not to be able to benefit from the perspectives and lines of communications of its neighbours. But perhaps the time is not yet ripe for all this friendly mediation. For India, pre-eminent in South Asia, it is especially tricky saying thanks, but no thanks. Sounds prickly and ungrateful.Best to listen to all the advice and act on the good bits.