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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Despite the government's strident assertions to the contrary, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's invitation to Pakistan Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf for talks on outstanding issues, chiefly Jammu & Kashmir, has been extended under pressure from the United States, a top government official admitted on Monday.
The official told rediff.com that "the Americans told the government that unless it took concrete measures to engage Pakistan on Kashmir, the sanctions imposed on India in the wake of the Pokhran II nuclear tests would stay".
Recently, the US had announced that the sanctions imposed on India would "erode" in four or five months.
The official pointed out that the US announcement was made after External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh visited Washington in early April. Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha also visited the US soon after.
These visits were followed by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's visit to Delhi, where he met Prime Minister Vajpayee at his Race Course Road residence.
"That could be the period when relentless pressure from the US would have made the Indian leadership decide to invite General Musharraf for talks on bilateral issues," the official pointed out.
Significantly, in his maiden press conference as External Affairs and Defence Minister on Monday, Jaswant Singh pointed out that "sanctions are counter-productive in Indo-US relations", but "the greatest and largest democracies must work together".
But when asked pointedly whether the US had influenced India's decision to hold a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir, Singh denied it, contending that New Delhi took an independent path in its national interests.
He contended that "India's position is not absolutist" when asked why New Delhi had suddenly decided to invite General Musharraf for talks.
He added that during the government's six-month ceasefire in Jammu & Kashmir, the government felt that a conducive atmosphere had been created for holding talks on the dispute.
Asked why Delhi was talking to Pakistan on Kashmir when it regarded the state as an integral part of the Indian Union, Singh contended that both countries had agreed to a "composite dialogue process mechanism" through which Kashmir could be discussed.
Referring to the Pakistani leadership's refrain that "Kashmir remains the core issue", he said, "It is an interpretation or definition in which we do not believe."
Referring to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's claim that the proposed Vajpayee-Musharraf dialogue would be an eyewash, Singh said, "It [the LeT] is a terrorist organisation and will be treated as such."
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