Talbott talking

Well, now at last we have an idea of what Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott have been telling each other and where they will pick up the thre...

Well, now at last we have an idea of what Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott have been telling each other and where they will pick up the threads when they meet for the seventh round of talks in Rome later this month. No, the information does not come, as one would have wished, from official Indian sources. At no stage has the government felt it necessary to set out its negotiating aims in a coherent fashion as part of an overall scheme of objectives.

What is known has come in dribs and drabs or has had to be teased out of anonymous official briefings. The consultative committee of Parliament on external affairs held its first meeting this week. Only a clairvoyant would be able to tell from the press briefings which followed what or the precise direction of the Indo-US nuclear dialogue. In short, the government has not been eager to throw light on the subject, only to provide itself with instant deniability in case of need.

Meanwhile, the Americans have seized the initiative to inform the Indian publicabout the agenda and progress of the talks. On the Indian side, negotiations are treated as a matter of the greatest sensitivity, so much so that the less said publicly the better.

On the other hand, the State Department8217;s key negotiator has been able to pick his way delicately through all the diplomatic landmines and explain the Clinton Administration8217;s thinking on the South Asian nuclear question as it has evolved in the course of six rounds of talks. Strobe Talbott8217;s immediate audience was a group of experts at the Brookings Institution in Washington; his larger audience was the Indian subcontinent.

As surely as night follows day there will be anonymous official Indian reactions to the Talbott speech over the coming weeks. But don8217;t expect clarity, expect obfuscation. That is how it has been for the last few months and so it will continue to be until the Vajpayee government is clear in its own mind about its objectives. Right now the Americans have the propaganda advantage.

Even in difficult and longdrawn out negotiations as these are bound to be, it is useful to lay out one8217;s own route map. That way the public will recognise temporary diversions or road blocks for what they are. As things stand just now, India seems to be too busy reacting to the US actions or statements to have much time for anything more purposeful.

Knowing where you are going makes it possible to be statesmanlike in difficult situations and get on with the serious business in hand. Take Washington8217;s decision to lift curbs on multilateral loans to Pakistan whereas those sanctions stay in force for India. New Delhi is awash with resentment over what is seen as a new tilt towards Pakistan.

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Such an attitude does not square with all the other things the government is saying no one wants to see Pakistan implode, India should not be equated with Pakistan, sanctions are not a serious problem for an economy as strong as India8217;s etc. More than that, the official expression of resentment revives old public suspicion about American aims inthe subcontinent and gets in the way of engaging Washington on the more significant issues.