US plots Gujral-Sharif show

S.Gurumurthy

It is a drama in real life diplomacy with all ingradients a well plotted movie.

First, the Americans leaked to the press that Gujral would visit Newyork on September 22, 1997 when Bill Clinton and Nawaz Shariff would also be in Newyork, even hinting a trilateral meet.

`No' said the offended officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), `Our Prime Minister would visit Newyork only as scheduled and would not advance his date with the UN'.

But the Prime Minister Inder Gujral, who is also the External Affairs Minister, proved his Ministry wrong and the Americans right; he advanced his visit to Newyork from Sept. 29-30 to Sept.22-23 precisely as the Americans had leaked.

Next, the Americans indicated to the press that Inder Gujral and Bill Clinton would meet in Newyork on September 22.

`No' responded the MEA officials angrily. `Inder Gujral would not meet Clinton; nor will he advance the date of his visit'.

But, Gujral confirmed not what the MEA officials said, but what the Americans had indicated.

Finally, the Americans signalled to the press that Gujral and Nawaz Shariff too would meet in Newyork.

`Misleading' countered the disgusted MEA officials, `Gujral will not meet Nawaz Shariff'.

Again Gujral affirmed what the Americans had signalled.

All this happened in a matter of two weeks between August 17 to September 1, 1997, when the officials of the MEA were repeatedly made fool of - by none other than their own Minister - and the Prime Minister. There was no indication that Gujral was talking to any one in his own Ministry in those two weeks; there was every indication that he was not.

And yet the spokesman of the MEA claimed a couple of daysback that the Shariff-Gujral meeting was "bilaterally arranged" - not by any third party, meaning not by the USA.

"Bilaterally arranged ?" By who ? How did this gentleman in the MEA know that it was bilaterally arranged when, just two weeks back, the entire MEA was not even aware that Gujral was advancing his visit to Newyork by a week; that he was to meet Bill Clinton; and that he was to meet Nawaz Shariff also. The American leaks were perhaps the only source of knowledge to the MEA officials.

Obviously Prime Minister Gujral did not engage the MEA at all to arrange his Newyork programmes. Who then was his trusted instrument if the whole MEA had to be kept out.

The search for an answer to this question will take us to a deeper game - a highly skilled game of diplomacy - in which India seems to have become a victim.

The proposed Clinton-Gujral, Clinton-Shariff and Gujral- Shariff Meetings in Newyork on September 22, 1997 are not one of those diplomatic accidents. It was a planned diplomatic hijack - planned well in advance.

The US diplomacy had hit upon a plan - the plan that the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan should be made to meet at the instance of the American President.

This plan was formulated not yesterday, but, two years back - on 22nd September 1995 to be precise. The Americans were awaiting a suitable Indian Prime Minister for executing their plan.

Inder Gujral with his famous Gujral doctrine of giving without expecting, to the neighbours, was an inviting victim.

So the plan formulated on 22nd September 1995 is being executed on 22nd September 1997.

Infact, Inder Gujral and Nawaz Shariff are mere actors in the drama reaching its climax at Newyork on September 22, 1997. Even Bill Clinton seems to be only a guest actor. It is entirely scripted by skilled diplomats assembled by two non-government foundations of USA - Rock Feller Foundation and Carter Centre. With just two critical Indians operating from the USA and dealing directly with the Prime Minister, the Indian establishment - the MEA and the PMO - has been virtually reduced to the position of curious audience awaiting the next scene in the drama to unfold.

The American foundations had scripted and plotted the whole drama unfolding now at Newyork for over two years. An ex- Indian bureaucrat now doing `academic work' in US and the former Governor of Gujarat who is now the Indian Envoy to US are the two players from India. The official establishment on both sides - US and India - were deliberately kept in the dark to prevent, as the documents repeatedly mention, "leak"!

It all started with Bill Clinton's one time dormitory companion Robin Rafael's disastrous diplomacy in India. She managed to generate more hatred for Clinton than Richard Nixon did to himself by moving the 7th fleet against India in the 1971 war. Sometime in 1995, the Americans decided to `engage' India, meaning to talk to India - reversing the earlier policy of `containing' India, which meant hostility to India.

In the middle of 1995, the American Intelligence was tipped off by the two Indian players that Narasimha Rao was considering testing nuclear weapons and employing the Prithvi Missiles before the elections in 1996. A flurry of activities commenced with American foundations converging on India.

Thanks to the two critically placed Indians, the Rockfeller Foundation (RF) came to know that a "secret" meeting was being held in Bangalore at the initiative of Rao in November 1995 to consider nuke test, Prithvi deployment and "other steps". No one was supposed to know about the meting; Rao, RF noted, wanted it kept away from US intelligence. But the two Indian players who participated in the meeting themselves kept the US side informed. The then Governor of Gujrat attended this secret meeting by a circuitous travel route - London, Frankfurt, Bombay and then Bangalore. He was the informant to the RF on what was happening on the Indian side, including at the meeting. The other, though not named, was the ex-official in the sensitive technology Ministry who was regarded as `a person with direct access to Prime Minister Rao' and who `swore' the American side to secrecy about what he had told them. The role of these two gentlemen has been well documented by the Rockfeller Foundation. The Bangalore meeting was preceded by a meeting called by the US Foundations at Pocantico between June 18 to 21, 1995. The meetings in June and November 1995 had, in the main, non-proliferation as the issue.

But the non-proliferators soon realised that, as a pre- condition, the basic issues of the Indo-Pak-Chinese triangle needed to be resolved. So what started as a move against nuke became a move to mediate between India and Pakistan. A suggestion for a `Camp David' process for South Asia - which meant India and Pakistan - was made in September 1995. Camp David was the climax of the West Asia settlement brought about by the efforts of the American foundations led by the former US President Jimmy Carter. A designated expert responded to this suggestion with his propositions in a preparatory study which became the foundation of a possible `Camp David' for India and Pakistan.

The preparatory study traced the history of Indo-Pak issues thus - that `a dying Pandit Nehru' resisted US pressure to settle Kashmir; that Kissinger tilted in favour of Pakistan; that Bush ignored Indo-Pak conflict; that nuclear issue over shadowed the idea of comprehensive strategy. The study then maps out a comprehensive strategy to deal with Indo-Pak issues and makes the most crucial suggestion for its success. "It is important to have early, high visibility Presidential support, perhaps a brief meeting between PMs in the White House, or at Camp David, but we are looking for trouble if the President (especially this president) is required to broker a deal".

The implication was clear - the meet of the two PMs must have Clinton's blessings, but, he should not be seen to broker it. So, proxies had to be found to broker the meeting - and the US foundations readily entered the game as proxies for the President. This September 1995 study became the starting point of the all out efforts to make the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan meet at the US President's initiative.

Citing the ensuing elections, a wily Narasimha Rao ducked all efforts to corner him into meeting his Pakistan counterpart. The 1996 election results confused the Americans more than it confused the Indians. The rustic Deve Gowda was the least inviting to the US foundations. But when, with the Gujral doctrine as his brand, the new Prime Minister arrived, the deal making diplomats saw a golden opportunity and seized it.

Right on his arrival, Gujral gave two distinct signals - first, his statement that he approved the refuelling of US warplanes in India and next, his appointment of Babani Sengupta, more US-minded than even the American diplomats, in the PMO. These two signals were sufficient for activating the dormant institutions.

Now, by a virtual coup, the UN visit of Gujral has been turned into US visit for an unspelt pre-Camp David meet on Indo-Pak issues. Now it is openly acknowledged that Gujral and Clinton will discuss the Kashmir issue - eventhough the official view is that only bilateral issues with US would be on the agenda.

Even, as the entire MEA is frightened about what Gujral would say `Yes' for in the summit meets, and is absolutely unprepared for the twin summit, the Americans are fully prepared for themselves as well as for their virtual proxy, Pakistan.