NEW DELHI: Immediate fallout of this week’s Sino Indian accord on troop withdrawal from their long common border will be that Pakistan will have to be on guard as Delhi will mount greater pressure along its common border with Pakistan, more specifically in Kashmir and Punjab, according to diplomatic sources here.

India which raised dust over the alleged Chinese occupation of its land in the wake of war of 1962 for more than three decades with the Indian parliament passing a unanimous resolution to have the “occupied areas” freed is now in a sober mood and has quietly accepted virtually the Status quo on the border pending final settlement.” The rigid Indian stand had led to positioning of massive troops on the border all along the north with Chinese responding with equal force.

Indian diplomats now want the media to project the accord as “his “historic landmark” and a victory for Indian diplomacy, This presumably is being done to neutralize the likely BJP attack on Narasimha Rao for selling out the country’s interests, The fact that the BJP is still not reconciled to the Indian position on the border with China is provided by a statement its leader Atal Behari Vajpayee made early this week asking the prime minister to seek Chinese endorsement of Sikkim’s accession to India. This statement was evidently aimed at spoiling the climate in Beijing on the eve of the signing of the accord.

The surplus troops are likely to be used by India to threaten Pakistan and Bangladesh. India’s relations with these two Muslim nations have been far from happy. Despite several U.S. efforts to bring about a thaw in the Indo Pak ties, the situation remains tense on the border with Kashmir area proving to be explosive.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources assert that the accord is not an unmixed blessing for India. Its argument against moving ahead with the U.S. proposals on nuclear control measures in the Indian subcontinent will be blunted as the supposed threat from China can no longer be viewed seriously.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 10, 1993