June 14, 1999
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DIPLOMACY Advantage India The weight of International opinion tips the balance in favour of India in the diplomatic battle. By Raj Chengappa
It was Singh who was able to get key countries to see India's viewpoint through some swift diplomatic moves. He was in Moscow when the battle intensified at Kargil. Coincidentally, US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was passing through and Singh set up a meeting with him. Talbott was sympathetic but Singh wanted the US to do more than just click its tongue. He wanted it to articulate a clear stand over the issue. When he returned to India and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called him up, Singh told her the same thing. She is learnt to have promised to "lean" on Pakistan provided India ensured that it would do its best not to escalate the conflict. The next day, US Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth went public with the US stand making it clear that it believed India's version about Pakistani intrusions. Pakistan was also told to settle the issue bilaterally. Meanwhile, France and Russia came out with strong statements of support to India. And China and Britain, while expressing their concern over the conflict, believed it should be sorted out bilaterally. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee bluntly rejected UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's offer of an envoy for negotiating peace. So, Pakistan hasn't really made too much headway in its efforts to internationalise the issue. If anything many US officials are miffed with Sharif for his misadventure in Kargil and are concerned that he is increasingly becoming isolated and lacks good advisers to guide him through such issues. MEA officials believe that Pakistan's main objectives for pushing for a limited war in Kargil have not been achieved. Diplomatically, Sharif is on the defensive. Militarily, Pakistan did not really expect India's tough response and has been forced to rethink its strategy at Kargil. Nor has Sharif emerged as a hero in domestic politics for his brinkmanship, especially with many in Pakistan not keen on a war with India. Pakistan has succeeded, however, in bringing Kashmir on the front burner and also focused international attention on the region. For India to stay ahead in the diplomatic battle it must ensure that the conflict in Kargil doesn't get out of hand. |
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Militarily, India
may have been slow to wake up to Pakistan's gambit in Kargil. But in the diplomatic battle
it succeeded in quickly neutralising the gains its hostile neighbour had made. This was
evident from the way most countries that matter understood the need for India to launch a
counter-offensive to repulse the intruders on the loc. Nor did these nations pay much heed
to Pakistan's pleas for international mediation. 
Pakistan tried to
regain the initiative last week by releasing captured Indian pilot Flight Lieutenant K.
Nachiketa as a goodwill gesture and sending Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz to Delhi for
talks with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. But Indian diplomats have no illusions
about the outcome of Aziz's visit. They are not even sure what he could discuss if
Pakistan maintained that the war in Kargil was being conducted by the mujahideen and not
by its army. "Their intentions are patently transparent. It is more of propaganda
rather than a sincere effort for lasting peace," says a senior MEA official. Part of
Pakistan's game plan is to call for a ceasefire or even a respite in the battle for the
Kargil heights so that it can negotiate from a position of strength. But Singh has made it
clear that there would be " no giving in to this armed intrusion amounting to
aggression" by Pakistan. 
