Jaswant Singh all set to become foreign minister
George Iype in New Delhi
India has stepped up its diplomatic initiative to ward off pressure to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India and Pakistan whipped up the spectre of war by conducting ten nuclear tests last month.
Wiith this end in mind, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is said to be considering appointing his key aide, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh, as the new external affairs minister. Currently Vajpayee himself holds the external affairs portfolio.
After India conducted its nuclear tests, the prime minister has entrusted the diplomatic initiative to Singh and Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra.
Sources said Mishra, who has just returned from Paris and London, will soon take off for Moscow. The prime minister's emissary, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, is to meet Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov.
Soon after the P-5 meeting in Geneva on Thursday, the Russian foreign minister announced that Moscow is keen to help India and Pakistan resolve their problems without any foreign interference or raising it in any international fora. Mishra's visit is meant to explain India's security concerns "to friendly Russia" before the G-8 foreign ministers meet in London on Friday to discuss the Indo-Pak nuclear face-off.
MEA officials feel Mishra's visit to Paris paid rich dividends since the P-5 resolution and its references to Kashmir were considerably watered down by Franco-Russian efforts.
"We cannot remain silent when the world powers are determined to isolate India for daring to go nuclear," an official told Rediff On The NeT, adding that the government's effort is ensure that "India is on par with Pakistan in international diplomacy."
MEA officials concede that Pakistan has always displayed sharp acumen in international diplomacy, especially when it comes to Kashmir. Soon after Pokhran II on May 11, the Pakistan government sent a team of officials to Washington to explain to the US how India was about to attack its nuclear installations.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief is now on a tour of the Persian Gulf to rally support from the Islamic world, explaining that Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests after being frightened by the belligerence of the Hindu nationalistic government in New Delhi.
MEA officials ruled out that the possibility of the prime minister undertaking a similar visit at this juncture.
The government plans to submit a detailed paper on the nuclear tests to two US Senators who will visit New Delhi soon. Republican Senator Sam Brownback, chairman of the International Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on South Asia, and Senator Charles Robb, a high ranking Democratic member, are expected to be in India and Pakistan this month.
While the prime minister is sending special envoys to Germany, Italy and Japan to spell out India's position on the nuclear tests and related issues before the G-8 summit, he has sent Jaswant Singh to the United States to brief the American media and senators about India's compulsions to conduct its nuclear tests.
Though Singh is currently attending a United Nations Conference on Drugs in New York, he will appear on a number of television programmes including the Jim Lehrer Show on PBS television.
Singh, who will also participate in a seminar on disarmament at the University of Pennsylvania, is scheduled to meet members of the Asia Society and the Council of Foreign Relations to elucidate the reasons behind the Indian government's decision to go nuclear.
"Now is the time for India to push an anti-China, anti-Pakistan opinion in the United States. And the prime minister feels that Jaswant Singh will do it superbly," an official said.
Many believe that Singh -- who has already been given a Rajya Sabha nomination for next week's biennial election from his native Rajasthan -- will be rewarded with the external affairs portfolio when the prime minister expands his Cabinet at the month-end.
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