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Journalism of Courage
Truth is, the BJP-led government lost its nerve on sending combat troops to Iraq. For a leadership which went nuclear within two months of coming to power in 1998 without consulting anybody in the Opposition, the 8216;8216;lack of domestic consensus8217;8217; argument hardly holds water.
On the other hand, if the BJP really wanted to make a case for troops in Iraq, it needed to do little than hold the mirror up to the Congress party 8212; the self same party which, first under Indira Gandhi in 1971 and then Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 did not even pretend to look for a 8216;8216;UN cover8217;8217; before Indian troops were marched off to defend other people in other countries.
The first example of course pertains to Bangladesh. Mrs Gandhi didn8217;t really bother to wait for sundry UN resolutions to 8216;8216;authorise8217;8217; the Indian army to fight on the side of the Mukti Bahini.
Today, with New Delhi as well as the Opposition divided over the 8216;8216;command and control structure8217;8217; on offer 8212; the Indian sectoral commander would be subject to the decisions of the US Central Command 8212; it might be worthwhile reminding all these naysayers about the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka agreement signed between Rajiv Gandhi and J R Jayawerdene.
When JRJ invited the Indian Peace-Keeping Force IPKF into Sri Lanka, he insisted that the commander of the Indian troops would have to report to him. IPKF chief General A.S. Kalkat agreed. Moreover, Rajiv8217;s Minister of State in the MEA was then K. Natwar Singh 8212; the same person today at the forefront of the Congress criticism of the Iraq story.
The Chinese connection
The 8216;8216;all-weather friendship8217;8217; between Beijing and Islamabad is hardly worrying India8217;s man for all seasons Shiv Shanker Menon, till last week New Delhi8217;s ambassador to the Forbidden City and from tomorrow, our man in Pakistan. In fact, after being instrumental in pulling off a major PM visit to China in late June, Menon is already readying for Vajpayee8217;s trip to Islamabad for the SAARC summit in January.
Incidentally, this is only the fifth time that an Indian PM goes to Pakistan 8212; after Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi visited twice, and January will be the second time around for Vajpayee after Lahore in 1999.
Still, Menon8217;s impeccable Chinese credentials are sure to stand him in good stead in Islamabad. For a start he speaks Mandarin fluently, an art he learnt not at the feet of the Foreign Service which he joined in 1972, but really as a young boy who spent three years in Lhasa, Tibet. This was in 1955 and Menon8217;s father P N Menon was India8217;s Consul-General in Lhasa.
The senior Menon kept in close touch with the 14th Dalai Lama, then still in the Potala, and there is this wonderful story that he may have even helped him 8216;8216;escape8217;8217; into India in 1959. Then when young Shiv Shanker grew up and married Mohini, turned out that Mohini8217;s father Ram Sathe, was once India8217;s Consul-General in Kashgar8230; So how does the romance of history deal with the indelible ink of modern man-made maps?
Mango delight in Beijing
Meanwhile, it8217;s raining mangoes in Beijing. The North Indian Dasehri, the Maharashtrian Alphonso named after a Portuguese ruler, the perfectly succulent Langra named after Taimur the Lame and the plainer Safeda. Five tonnes of mangoes have hit Beijing, hardly within weeks of India and China signing an agreement on 8216;8216;phytosanitary conditions8217;8217; to promote the sale of mangoes king cabbages and cauliflowers and aubergines are set to follow during PM Vajpayee8217;s visit.
The Indian embassy in fact has its hands full at the moment trying to pack gift cartons to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, the chairman of the military commission Jiang Zemin and many other Chinese leaders with unpronounceable names.
Then of course there8217;s Dai Bingguo, Beijing8217;s special representative on the border talks, who is likely to meet his counterpart, Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, very soon. Terms of reference on the political parameters are being currently worked out. New Delhi8217;s hoping Comrade Dai will develop a mango tooth.
Myanmar memories
It took 17 long years for Myanmarese Foreign Minister U. Win Aung to make an independent visit to India this January. Last week he was here again, except that this time he asked to come. Travelling to China, Bangladesh and Pakistan en route to New Delhi, Win asked Prime Minister Vajpayee for his understanding of the way Yangon had handled the most recent internment of Aung San Suu Kyi. He more or less got it.
New Delhi has openly spoken of its refusal to interfere in the internal affairs of any country, and it8217;s certainly not going to begin with Myanmar. Moreover, the SPDC regime in Yangon is said to be making its own peace moves with ethnic communities, in an effort to draw them into the mainstream.
Still, if truth be told, there continues to exist a significantly troubled, although silent, constituency in India about the way Suu Kyi is being treated by Myanmar8217;s military regime 8212; and they have little in common with bleeding heart liberals in the West who also pack a dry-eyed strategic punch in their criticism of the SPDC. The Indian sympathy stems not only from the fact that Suu Kyi was educated in New Delhi when her mother was ambassador here in the 8217;50s or that her father was a great friend of Nehru8217;s, but also that she has smilingly withstood the harshest travails she has been subject to since she was thrown into jail after winning the elections in 1989.
Combined with the fact that Myanmar remains a highly devout Buddhist state only adds to the mystery of a nation that is really a riddle wrapped inside an enigma.
