COVER STORY

'Diplomacy should not be put aside'

K. Natwar Singh is convener of the Congress(I) foreign policy cell. A day after Sartaj Aziz's visit to Delhi, the veteran diplomat and former Minister of State for External Affairs shared his perceptions of the Kargil matter with Sukumar Murali dharan. Excerpts:

We have seen a diplomatic initiative of sorts in the Kargil matter, and meanwhile the military action continues. How do you assess the situation in terms of its various hazards and possibilities?

What is happening in Kargil is not an aberration as claimed by Jaswant Singh. It is a well-thought-out plan for which preparations must have been going on for a long time. This has been conceded by the Prime Minister, who has said that this must have bee n going on even when he was in Lahore. If Pakistan wanted to defuse the situation, then Sartaj Aziz could have taken a more conciliatory attitude. He could have said, for instance, we are very sorry about these six soldiers and we will institute inquirie s. But he disclaimed everything. He said that the bodies were returned with full military honours, that Kargil was the tip of the iceberg, and that Kashmir was the core issue. At the moment there is no meeting ground, but nevertheless diplomacy should no t be put aside.

R.V. MOORTHY

For the first time now, Pakistan has violated the LoC. This they had never done for all of 27 years since the Simla Agreement. And there is scant attention today to the Lahore Declaration, about which there was excessive and unnecessary euphoria generate d by the government and government agencies. The Congress(I) had welcomed the Lahore Declaration, but at the same time recognised that it was nothing but an extension of the Simla Agreement. It was not, as Jaswant Singh claimed, a historic declaration th at would change the entire environment of India-Pakistan relations. Now it is said that at a time like this we should all be united. We all are. We all support the military action going on to expel the intruders. But the fact remains that we have no expl anation of how this happened. They say that this is not the time to discuss this matter. This seems to be a rather simplistic attitude. Suppose the Lok Sabha had not been dissolved, there would have been a discussion on Kargil. Now to say that some are m ore patriotic than others is an insult. Every Indian is a patriot.

What track could diplomacy take in this context?

At the moment I don't think anything is possible. Take for example the Chinese role, which has been exceptional. They are almost an ally of Pakistan but they gave Sartaj Aziz no encouragement. They issued a statement that both countries should get togeth er and find a solution through peaceful means. They could have taken another stand if they took what George Fernandes said last year seriously. The Chinese have been very correct, and for this the credit should go to Rajiv Gandhi and the breakthrough he made in 1988.

What you are suggesting is that there is some kind of grand strategic plan which is being executed in Kargil, to which we remained oblivious because of the euphoria of Lahore. What could this possibly be and what possible chances of success does Paki stan have now that it is isolated globally?

This is a simplistic view. They have succeeded today in internationalising Kashmir. Sartaj Aziz came here and before the world media said that Kashmir is the core issue. The Germans have said that they are not going to be bystanders. Now we are in June. In September, the U.N. General Assembly meets, where anybody can raise issues of concern. And they will raise it. We will have to reply to them there.

Do you think the genesis of this whole crisis lies in a colossal intelligence failure?

Now one does not want to say this, but how do you keep it under wraps? If the Lok Sabha had been there, all this would have come out. But they are even refusing to call the Rajya Sabha into session. They were so carried away over the last three months ov er the Lahore Declaration that they lowered their guard.

As far as diplomacy with China is concerned, the question of the LoC and the undemarcated part of it will be taken up...

Now you see, the Chinese have been very correct in this matter. If the government had made the same mistakes as they did last year, after Pokhran, then they would have been in very serious difficulties. When I was in China towards the end of last year, t hey kept asking me why has all this happened. We have to put all this behind us, we are two big countries which have had only one conflict in all of 5,000 years - which has not been fully analysed on either side.

Now the U.S. is onside in this dispute. Is that a diplomatic gain for India?

President Clinton has written to both the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers. The contents have not been revealed. But the very fact that he has written to both Prime Ministers on a bilateral matter amounts to internationalisation. State Department off icials have said that the matter should be settled bilaterally. Fair enough. But now take the statement by Home Minister L.K. Advani last year, about hot pursuit into Pakistani territory. I asked him what he was talking about. Now the Pakistanis are in h ot pursuit into our territory. If we engage in hot pursuit, will the Americans support us?

What about these transcripts that have been released by the External Affairs Minister? What is your assessment of what they reveal?

They should never have been released. To have obtained them was some sort of a coup. But to have made them public is wrong, since the source that you obtained them from is now lost. Now it has been known to us that the Army in Pakistan has always been th e senior partner of the government. But the Army chief was appointed by Nawaz Sharif after the previous one was sacked. If the Army was so powerful, he could have told Nawaz Sharif, I am going to sack you. But now we have to deal with Pakistan as a count ry.

Do you see any options in the current context other than the military one?

The Army has to do its job. We are all totally behind this government, even if it is a caretaker. I used to tell people in Pakistan when I was High Commissioner there that whatever the disagreements between political parties in India, when it comes to th e nation's territorial integrity and unity, we are all one. But this is going to be a long drawn affair. The statement made on May 10, that we will flush them out in 48 hours, that should never have been made.