LONDON: The secret parleys between India and the US on security and non-proliferation issues being billed as the fourth round on official talks -ended here last week after what one Indian source described as a Jong chat between the leaders of the two teams.
The talks ended as they had started wrapped in the most inexplicable serecy. The Indian team checked out of St James Court Hotel just as swiftly and suddenly as it had checked in.
The Indian bid at secrecy apparently has rubbed off on the Americans as well. American diplomas who were the first to confirm the talks turned diffident. Requests for comments from Einhorn were turned down speedily.
The Indians even kept the venue of the talks a closely guarded secret. The manager of St James Court Hotel was reportedly ticked off after telling a reporter that the first days talks had been held at the hotel.
Some of the Indian secrecy could be explained by the fact that the Indian team is under pressure to come up with some kind of a formula on disarmament to put a gloss on Raos visit. And the indications are that the Indians al the secret parleys came under American pressure on several fronts What transpired in the conversation between Indias Natarajan Krishnan in ex-diplomat and Amencas Robin Einhorn deputy assistant secretary of state is not known. What is known however is that the leader of the Indian team is carrying a brief from Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
One more round of talks are expected to take place before Rao visits Washington on May 19. But if this one was any indication the Indian people will not be any wiser for the next round about what exactly is being discussed on an issue of vital national interest. Raos brief for Krishnan is not known and Indian officials insist he does not have the brief to agree to the American proposal for a nine-nation regional security conference the so called 5+2+2 idea. But it is no secret that the leader of the Indian delegation favors Indian accession to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which New Delhi rejects as discriminatory. The choice of Krishnan to lead the Indian team said to have been made personally by Rao has surprised many observers here.
At the talks the Americans reportedly wanted India to adhere to the Missile Technology control Regime (MTCR) and subject itself to full IAEA safeguards on the production of fissile materials. The US is said to be particularly keen on India’s adherence to the MTCR which will target the Agni. Non-proliferation issues and the $42+2 idea too came up for discussion. We really talked about the concepts behind the multilateral talks one Indian participant said .We have not agreed to 5+2+2. We will never agree 10, 11.
In simple terms the US proposal is that Indian and Pakistan should sit down with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and two projected future members Germany and Japan and talk about Indo-Pak Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) this idea is supported by Britain who describe it as the next best thing to India’s accession to the NPT.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 6, 1994
