Author: Rashmee Roshan Lall
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 6, 2006
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2108252.cms
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets his
British counterpart Tony Blair next week, India will seek an upfront response
on that key question in the five-year-old US-led, UK-backed so-called war
on terror: How long will the West publicly refuse to lump the ISI along with
al-Qaida, the Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashar-e Toiba into one big bag
marked bloody trouble?
Informed sources said Singh would seek an
urgent response from Blair on this key question when the two prime ministers
have a tete-e-tete on Tuesday.
This is the first time India will so conclusively
lump the ISI with al-Qaida ideologues in a key Western capital, observers
said.
Singh, who flies into London on Monday for
the third Indo-UK annual summit that is part of the September 2004 bilateral
agreement, is also expected to discuss joint security strategies for big-ticket
sporting events such as the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and London 2012
Olympics.
As part of an agenda heavily dominated by
issues of security and successful economic interaction, Singh and Blair will
also discuss the Mumbai blasts and ways to cooperate in safeguarding transport
networks.
Sources said that Blair is expected to request
Singh to update him on the Mumbai blasts. That request, sources said, will
be the signal for the Indian prime minister to pose the key question about
the ISI, its chief sponsor, the Pakistan establishment and the backing given
by Western cheerleaders such as an officially-reticent Britain.
But in yet another sign that Indo-British
relations were on an enviably even keel with no major misunderstandings, ructions
or rows, the Singh-Blair summit will deliberately devote a huge chunk of time
to fostering a closer, deeper, wider business relationship.
The two leaders' summit has been timed to
coincide with a UK-India investment conference being hosted by the Department
of Trade and Industry on October 10. British officials said both men would
talk to top business executives from British and Indian firms including Tesco,
Standard Chartered, Cairn Energy. Officials said, "There will be contract
signings at the investment summit, there will be a number of announcements
about investment in both directions". India, which was the eighth largest
investor in Britain in 2004-05 is now third largest.
Britain's Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair
Darling will hold a number of meetings with Indian Commerce Minister Kamal
Nath. Singh will also meet British chancellor and prime minister-in-waiting
Gordon Brown. The Indian prime minister, who continues to hold the foreign
affairs portfolio, is expected to meet British foreign secretary Margaret
Beckett.
