Jaswant hardsells his foreign policy at home

He was answering a debate in the Rajya Sabha on his ministry’s functioning. Congress’ Natwar Singh started the debate and Jaswant dubbed it a ‘‘personalised attack’’, provoking sharp exchanges between the two. Natwar charged the Centre with following a directionless foreign policy.

On British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s reported statement on outside observers for J-K Assembly polls, he said: ‘‘It is not correct. In any case, we reject that notion. The issue (of J-K) is in the domain of the Election Commission.’’

Earlier in the day, the TDP kept up its offensive on the Centre and criticised its foreign policy ‘‘failures’’. Party leader C. Rama-chandraiah said there was no need for the Centre to be oversensitive about foreign countries’ criticism. ‘‘There is nothing wrong in the global concern over Gujarat.’’

According to the TDP leader, India had not moved a bit in its relations with Pakistan after Agra, and President Pervez Musharraf had gone on to gain legitimacy and significance. Jaswant asserted India would not enter into dialogue until Pakistan stopped using terrorism as negotiating tactics. ‘‘It is for Pakistan to decide what long term relationship it wants.’’

According to Ramachandraiah, Pakistan had seized the initial advantage India had gained after the swearing in of the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf successfully toured Kabul while India did nothing credible to negate Pakistan’s growing influence. ‘‘It is sickening,’’ Ramachandraiah said.

Both countries were actively cooperating in various fields, including training of Afghan defence personnel, Jaswant insisted. On the US decision to make Pakistan its ally in the fight against terrorism in the region, he said India could not be persuaded to follow suit.

The Minister took the opportunity to answer Opposition criticism on escorting terrorists to Kandahar in 1999 to secure the release of an IA plane. He said information showed the plane would have been blown up if the terrorists were not released. ‘‘I volunteered to save 166 passengers. It was a bitter pill to swallow.’’