Playing safe on US…

What with the all-consuming attention on things domestic, India seems to have taken a considered decision not to publicly comment on or crit...

What with the all-consuming attention on things domestic, India seems to have taken a considered decision not to publicly comment on or criticise the US, whatever be its own compulsions on declaring Pakistan a favoured non-NATO ally. This, notwithstanding a telephone call by Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra to his counterpart, US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, where he is believed to have diplomatically voiced New Delhi’s displeasure at not being told about the decision to do so (‘‘What kind of strategic partners does that make us?’’ Mishra is supposed to have said). Which is also why New Delhi is taking its time to respond to an informal US request to send troops to stabilise a UN force that takes over Iraq after the Americans hand over power, as promised, by the end of June.

First of all, with the kind of chaos that’s become a synonym for the place, New Delhi seems to have no intentions of going anywhere angels fear to tread. Secondly, end-June’s a long way off, with both India and the US in an election year.

…plodding along on Russia

Meanwhile, New Delhi’s relations with Moscow are plodding along with fair consistency, with the Election Commission here having invited Russian Chief Election Commissioner Alexander Veshnyakov and a few others worldwide to check out the world’s largest democracy in action. The Russians are calling him an ‘‘observer’’, even though the word doesn’t have the same loaded connotation New Delhi detests. It’s not clear whether Veshnyakov will go to Kashmir (probably not), or whether he wants to.

Both sides recently also hosted counter-terrorism talks, while the second group of 30 Indian engineers is travelling to Novovoronezh to be trained at the nuclear power plant there. This group of engineers will return to work at the two Russian-built nuclear reactors in Kudamkulam, Tamil Nadu. Altogether, 120 engineers have already been trained.

Minding poll traffic to J-K

While the door remains open for foreigners worldwide to oversee elections all over the country, New Delhi is believed to have kept the 2002 Assembly experience in mind, especially for Kashmir. Knowing full well that the four-phase poll in that state will be a big draw, the Government has decided that diplomats accredited to their missions in Delhi can take a plane to the Valley, check out the polls and report back home. Smarter diplomats from abroad may also apply for a tourist visa to India, buy a plane ticket to Srinagar and…

All eyes are now on whether the new US ambassador to India, Robert Mulford, will be doing a Blackwill. Oldtimers remember that Blackwill came out after the first phase of the Assembly polls and announced that they were ‘‘free and fair’’, much to the chagrin of a number of European missions unwilling to be as generous.

British High Commissioner Michael Arthur, whose government’s interest in Kashmir remains high and not only because of the historical role London has played in the story, is another VIP diplomat New Delhi is expected to focus on. Arthur recently visited Srinagar and called on Shabir Shah, a key Kashmiri leader part of the poll-boycott bandwagon, in an attempt to gain first-hand experience of the country.

Celebrating with S Africa

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Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat will travel to South Africa along with Foreign Secretary Shashank (who retains a considerable interest in Africa) later this month—after Shashank returns from Dublin, Ireland, where he is currently to participate in a European Union troika meeting of senior officials—to celebrate 10 years of free and democratic rule in that country. It’s also a hundred years of the African National Congress this year and the twin anniversary is cause for much joy. Shekhawat and Shashank are expected to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki during the tour.