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Yeltsin nudged India down the path of conciliation

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The government's apparent climbdown from its recent impassioned outburst against China and Pakistan, and its announcement on Thursday that it was willing to improve relations with Beijing and Islamabad, are the result of counsel by a friendly nation.

According to senior government officials, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee decided to stall the belligerence of his Cabinet colleagues against neighbouring countries following a telephonic conversation with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

It is understood that Vajpayee assured Yeltsin that henceforth, the leadership would endeavour to improve India's relations with its neighbours, including China and Pakistan, and if emotional statements had been made in New Delhi, they were the result of threat perceptions which had a direct bearing on the country's security.

According to senior government officials, New Delhi had attained its objective of making the international community aware of the dangers faced by India from across its northern and western borders. The recent underground nuclear tests in Pokhran followed the statements of Defence Minister George Fernandes pertaining to China, thereby earning India international focus on its security considerations. But now that the objective had been achieved, India was counselled to lower tensions in the region and take the initiative in ushering in peace and stability. That was how New Delhi came to announce a moratorium on further nuclear tests and reconsider certain provisions of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, these officials pointed out.

It is learnt that the prime minister has issued instructions to his Cabinet colleagues that they should refrain from commenting on delicate and sensitive international issues which could send the wrong signals abroad, and that such matters should be left to authorised and competent personnel.

Apart from this, the government has also launched a comprehensive campaign by asking its missions abroad to explain India's reasons for not only conducting the nuclear tests but also showing how its security was threatened from across its western and northern borders.

Asked by this correspondent why the prime minister spoke to Yeltsin, the officials pointed out that Russia was India's old friend and ally. They said in October last year, former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had reaffirmed India's intentions of developing a strategic partnership with Russia. It was stressed that military and technical co-operation between New Delhi and Moscow is the backbone of their bilateral relations, and India was the largest buyer of Russian military hardware. During Yadav's visit in October 1997, the two sides agreed to prolong such cooperation 2010. Besides, the Russian leadership has vowed to help India become a great power, the officials added.

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