NEW DELHI: A ghost from its recent past has come back to haunt South Block. And the mandarins of Raisina Hill do not quite know how to exorcise it.
Their freak problem which some ministry of external affairs (MEA) officials describe as India’s “Gulf crisis “follows Saddam Husscin’s inexplicable decision to publish the minutes of his meeting with the NF government’s external affairs minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, a few weeks after Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait.
The minutes, published by Iraq’s controlled print media, have also been telecast repeatedly on state run television for prime time viewing at9 p.m. Iraqi TV has a large viewership in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries, and clips of Gujral’s embracing President Saddam has revised painful memories in the region of how New Delhi let down Gulf governments.
There are fears in New Delhi that detailed accounts of what Gujral said may act as a dampener to India’s recent efforts to improve relations with the Gulf nations.
If the Iraqi version of the meeting is, indeed, true, the most shocking aspect of it is a total absence of any criticism on the part of India of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, Most of the meeting is taken up with Gujral conveying to the Iraqi president whatever he had gathered in Washington and Moscow about the response of the two super powers to the Iraq aggression.
This publication has meant considerable embarrassment for Indian diplomats, both in the countries of their postings, as well as in dealings with diplomats from some of the Allies which fought Iraq.
According to the version of the meeting published by the Iraqis, Gujral was extremely critical of the then US secretary of state, James Baker, and the national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft Gujral describes Baker as “ag & ft 6 Sks5l Wee
Iran also has reasons to be upset over published details of the meeting because it records the Iraqi president as telling Gujral that the state of Iran Iraq relations resulted in Baghdad moving its forces into Kuwait. Gujral’s reply is offensive in the extreme to the Iranians. He hopes Iran will understand the “good way” in which Iraq has dealt with Iran.
At no stage does the external affairs minister disagree with President Saddam. “We agree on all points,” he says.
Significantly, however, the president’s confidence that the “mother of all battles” could be avoided, comes through when he tells Gujral he will offer America a way out of the crisis.
At one stage, the president says the US wants to occupy Arab oil wells. Gujral replies that relations between India and Iraq are “important and close.” The minister adds; “We resist any attempt 10 segment the Arab homeland whenever it occurs.”
Gujral, the Iraqis say, made a request at the stage to shift the staff of the Indian embassy in Kuwait to Basra, President Saddam turned this down.
Indian officials are divided over why Iraq has gone public with details of the meeting. A chant able view is that it is part of President Saddam’s effort to convince Iraq is that his intentions in invading Kuwait were peaceful. Others disagree, saying the Congress (1) government has rebuffed Iraqi initiatives for closer ties. President Saddam may be hoping that the minutes will embarrass India without realizing that South Block has now totally disowned Gujral, and that any damage to Indian interests from the relations can be no more than psychological.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 14, 1993
