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Journalism of Courage
New Delhi is right not to receive the UN Secretary General8217;s special envoy during his forthcoming visit to South Asia. The trip is being made in pursuance of the Security Council resolution of June 6 which required the UN to monitor progress by India and Pakistan in reducing tensions and resolving all issues, including Kashmir, through bilateral talks. New Delhi firmly rejected the resolution as a whole. It cannot be expected to give the UN a foot in the door by entertaining discussions on South Asian tensions with an envoy. The message is what it has always been: any formulation for a UN role in bilateral affairs is unacceptable.
Consequently, the envoy is scheduled to go only to Islamabad, Dhaka and Colombo. At one level therefore the trip will be a formality, a demonstration of UN concern but a dead-end in so far as India is concerned. Even so, there are several things wrong with the limited exercise.
Involving Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in discussions on the post-testsscenario serves no purpose other than to legitimise mediation attempts by the UN or others. Both capitals have stated their understanding of India8217;s reasons for testing. Their concerns have been raised bilaterally and there is a forum in SAARC for further exchange of views. So there is absolutely no need for UN shuttle diplomacy. New Delhi should be prepared to deal firmly and clear-headedly with many more direct and indirect attempts to interfere in the region. A discussion in the UN General Assembly is more or less inevitable. There is also the reported initiative by France for an international conference on South Asian 8220;tensions8221; from which India and Pakistan will initially be excluded. There can be no accommodation with any of these do-gooders. But there are other promising avenues such as the initiative by non-weapons powers led by Ireland and Norway to pin the P-5 to their treaty commitments on nuclear disarmament. Damage control in Washington and Paris is only part of the job. Many capitals can bedrawn into New Delhi8217;s diplomatic offensive on global disarmament.
