Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
- Internet Edition
Date: October 6, 2001
URL: http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1286794026
WASHINGTON: Angry and upset over
the seismic shift in American policy in South Asia following the September
11 terrorist attacks, India has asked to be de-linked from Pakistan in
various legislation being considered by the US Congress.
Hill sources said the unusual and
explicit request, clearing arising from a sense of pique over the turn
of events, was made earlier this week to at least two law-makers, Senator
Joseph Biden and Senator Sam Brownback. They have been at the forefront
of the administration's move to ease sanctions against Pakistan and India
with the obvious intent of buying cooperation from Pakistan in its proposed
war against terrorism.
Indian sources confirmed such a
request had been made and said there was no need to club India and Pakistan
in the same legislation because India gained very little from it. Specifically,
they pointed to legislation relating to waiver of the so-called democracy
sanctions, and said it was "gratuitous" to mention India in the context
since it has been and continues to be a democracy.
"Besides, we are supporting the
war on terrorism not out of any sense of expectation or reward," one Indian
source said in a needling reference to Pakistan's reasons, which is thought
to be made under duress and for a financial bail-out. "We don't need sops.
We are in it for the long haul and because we have been hurting from nearly
two decades of terrorism," the source added.
In fact, things have become so testy
between India and its friends on the Hill that External Affairs Minister
Jaswant Singh cancelled a meeting with Senator Biden at just 20 minutes
notice, leading to a great deal of heartburn in the law-maker's office.
Biden, who heads the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, was a trenchant critic of Pakistan's nuclear proliferation
and was opposed to sanctions against Pakistan being eased while supporting
a waiver for India. But he changed his views following the September 11
attacks and is now proposing a long-term alliance with Pakistan, including
massive doses of capital from a $1 billion dollar "recovery package" he
is pushing for Central Asia.
Singh apparently cried off from
the meeting citing illness. "But he was on CNN an hour later looking hale
and hearty," a Congressional source fumed. "You don't do this to a Senator
at such short notice when you have sought the meeting."
Indian sources denied deliberating
dissing Biden and said the meeting had to be cancelled because of scheduling
problems. But evidently, a CNN gig was considered more germane than a meeting
with a Senator who had already made up his mind.
Biden is not only an influential
law-maker and an authoritative foreign policy voice, but also a prospective
presidential candidate.
Despite India's irate demand that
it be de-linked from Pakistan in various legislative endeavours, the US
Senate later on Thursday to lift virtually all remaining sanctions against
Islamabad and New Delhi.
By unanimous consent, senators approved
a bill that authorises President Bush to sell weapons, dual-use items and
provide financial assistance to Islamabad and New Delhi "that he deems
important to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism."
Indian officials are taking a dim
view of such moves, presuming, from past experience, that the administration
will use it to only refurbish a Pakistan.
