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Journalism of Courage
Stories of Indian leaders being shamed by punctilious big powers who refuse to endorse 8216;8216;state visits8217;8217; or, even, question food and hotel bills, are legion. But in recent years, India has gone out of its way to roll out the red carpet for foreign visitors, especially those from the West, believing that it would be in India8217;s interest.
Still, the times they are a changing, and the MEA at least has decided that it is now going to strictly reciprocate visits and hospitality8212;hotel accommodation, car transport, arrival and departure at airport, gifts8212;in accordance with the label given to the visit. The new reforms have been authored by Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal.
And around the time that de Villepin was here, Belarus Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov also happened to be in town8212;but on an 8216;8216;official visit.8217;8217; Here, then, was the difference: Neither Straw nor Powell nor de Villepin were received at the airport by any minister from the MEA or outside.
They paid for their hotels, cars and food, a far cry from the treatment dished out to these leaders until some months ago. In contrast, Khvostov was given hospitality for himself and five others, including hotels, transport, food, the works.
Question is, was the new hospitality a reflection of India8217;s 8217;8217;dissatisfaction8217;8217; with the West8217;s inability to put pressure on Musharraf on cross-border terrorism? At least Belarus had made no such promises.
Armitage Again
It8217;s been confirmed that US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will be in town on August 23, as part of a long march that begins in Colombo, moves on to New Delhi and Islamabad and, via Beijing, in preparation for Chinese President Jiang Zemin8217;s October visit to the US, and ends in Tokyo.
The last time Armitage was here in June, he looked deeply into Musharraf8217;s eyes and helped him pledge a 8216;8216;permanent end8217;8217; to cross-border infiltration. It then seems a little strange that External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, won8217;t be here to receive Armitage. Sinha will be in Kathmandu for a SAARC meeting from where he proceeds directly to Dhaka.
Nor, in fact, will be deputy prime minister L K Advani, whose US yatra would already have begun. Clearly, then, the one-day visit will be woven around National Security Advisor and Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, whose influence on India8217;s foreign policy seems to have become even more prominent. It8217;s not clear whether Armitage will meet PM Vajpayee or not.
Afghanistan, Way to Go
Yashwant Sinha took the long detour to Afghanistan last weekend, flying around Pakistan and back via Iran to Kabul, the journey itself a lesson in how not to conduct foreign policy.
For, in the aftermath of the December 13 attack on Parliament last year, India hit back with a set of sanctions that included a ban on Pakistani aircraft overflying Indian airspace. It would teach Musharraf a lesson, some in the government reckoned.
Except that two key people8212;Civil Aviation minister Shahnawaaz Hussain and then External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh8212;were, privately, said not to be in favour of such a ban. And their worst fears soon came true, with Musharraf ordering that Indian aircraft could not fly through Pakistani airspace.
That single move has done substantial damage to India8217;s Afghan policy: It has prevented Indian businessmen from trading heavy goods on the direct air route. India has rarely been so influential in Kabul because of its proximity with Northern Alliance leaders now in government, but it has also rarely been at risk of that influence ebbing at Pakistani hands. And Musharraf has refused to oblige by opening up his airspace in return for India8217;s recent offer to allow Pakistani planes to fly through India.
Austerity Coverage for Sinha
Speaking of Afghanistan, except for one newspaper, Sinha8217;s pathbreaking visit last week to Kabul as well as the local fiefdoms of Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharief hardly received any coverage in the Indian media. Journalists had offered to pay expenses towards the trip, but it seems some new-old rules came in the way.
The official view went, Sinha would be taking UN aircraft from Kabul and a large media party could not be accommodated on board those small-seater aircraft.
The view, however, in BJP circles is different. Sinha8217;s removal from the Finance ministry into the Foreign Office, these politicians aver, indicated a fall from grace. Allowing him to take a media party and high-profiling his achievements abroad8212;from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to Brunei and now to Kabul8212;would only take the sting out of that decision.
Still, the powers-that-be could have just let the Civil Aviation ministry in on its rarefied decision. It seems that since it was gifting the Afghans three Airbus planes, it ended up sponsoring other journalists to Kabul.
