US will be snubbed if J&K, CTBT come up in talks, say officials

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Visiting US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering will be snubbed if he pushes India to toe America's line on Kashmir and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, senior external affairs ministry officials said on Friday. They were reacting to a report that US state department spokesperson James Rubin had asserted that Kashmir would be a central issue during the talks between Pickering and Indian representatives.

MEA officials said India's stand on these issues was well known and that there was no room for more negotiation. "It is a bilateral dispute with Pakistan and we don't need any mediation by a third party," an official said.

An MEA spokesperson said Pickering had indeed raised the Kashmir issue when cross-border terrorism cropped up during the Indo-US talks, but it is not known whether Pickering was warned off. The matter was not taken up directly though it was touched upon, sources said.

Asked about India's possible response to any question on the CTBT and non-proliferation treaty issues if the US undersecretary of state raised them, the officials said Pickering would have to consider a new formula accommodating India's point of view or be satisfied with a stalemate. The MEA officials said the US had accommodated countries like Israel, but not India, which has already exploded a nuclear device, although for peace purposes and yet proved itself a responsible, restrained nation.

The officials said that in the background of the current media debate over whether India should conduct another nuclear test or not, there is pressure on Pickering to give due importance to India's compulsions. If the US was willing to recognise India's pre-eminence in the region, the two sides could go on to the composition of the new world order in the region, various concessions from the US side etc.

Despite the sabre-rattling, India and the US and India signed a major agreement to extend the maximum length of visas for tourists and temporary visitors to 10 years.

The new agreement on visas comes into effect from November 1. The fees will remain unchanged and the scheme will especially benefit the increasing number of Indian travellers to the US. MEA officials said it would also help prepare for the anticipated growth in tourist and commercial travel between the two countries.

When India raised the issue of cross-border terrorism, Pickering reportedly reciprocated the concern, pointing out that the US had recently declared the Pakistan-based Harkat-Ul-Ansar as a 'foreign terrorist organisation'.

The talks, informed sources later said, was conducted in an "exceptionally warm and cordial atmosphere".

Pickering, who arrived on Thursday night on a three-day visit, had "broad-based, wide-ranging and meaningful" talks with Foreign Secretary K Raghunath on bilateral, regional and global issues, officials later said. Pickering also met Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and will meet Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Saturday.

Pickering's visit is to be followed by that of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in November, the US commerce secretary in December and President Bill Clinton next year.

The two countries also discussed co-operation in science and technology, trade and commercial relations, the situation in South and South East Asia and the UN's role in global issues. However, the Afghan issue was not touched upon, sources said. The US had already indicated it desired a 'strategic relationship' with India, they added.

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