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Author:
Publication: Outlook
Date: December 26, 2005
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20051226&fname=Tyagi+Letter+%28F%29&sid=2
The former external affairs minister on the mystery letter that he says he didn't see as it "was never put up to" him.
Q.: Did you get to see this letter?
A.: I didn't see the letter. It was never put up to me. Therefore, the question
of acting on that letter at my level does not arise. Why didn't the officers
put it up to me? I don't know. But I also feel that this was an important
enough letter which should have been brought to my notice. Either by marking
the letter to me for my information, or by putting it up on file.
Q.: Did you ask the government to produce
this letter?
A.: In the Rajya Sabha, I challenged the government that if there was indeed
such a letter it should be tabled in the House. (Finance minister P.) Chidambaram,
in his reply, did refer to the existence of such a letter. On my repeated
demands that a copy of this letter be made available to the House, he said
he would hand over a copy of the letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman. To the
best of my knowledge, it hasn't been done till today (December 14). I'm dismayed
that the government has not thought it fit, even after 15 days, to show this
letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman.
Q.: What was the RJD's thrust when it brought
up the matter?
A.: The RJD member was making the point that such a letter was received when
the NDA was in government and no action was taken. So this was in the form
of a complaint-that we didn't act on the report in a Pakistani newspaper and
one in Iraq, which was even then under US occupation. Subsequently, I have
come across news reports which go to show that this information about the
Congress and even perhaps Natwar Singh was put out by the CIA in September
2004. When (National Security Advisor) M.K. Narayanan was confronted with
this information at the time he was travelling with the prime minister to
Moscow, some correspondents raised this issue in the plane. According to a
report which I have seen, "he (the NSA) bristled at the suggestion that
there had been any intelligence failure". He said, "You want us
to be like the Gestapo? And questioning people, interrogating people?"
Now, the CIA is the official intelligence agency of the US government. Jung
of Pakistan and Al Mada of Iraq are not. So, clearly the point which the government,
by leaking this letter, wanted to make was: we did not act on the report which
appeared in a Pakistani newspaper and an Iraqi newspaper. But their own national
security advisor was very angry when asked why didn't he act on the CIA report.
Two different standards!
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