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Clinton's visit to India delinked from CTBT question

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

A United States congressional delegation visiting India believes India may sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty before the September 1999 deadline, paving the way for normal ties between the world's biggest democracies.

Richard Gephardt, leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives and head of the ten-member team, indicated this today.

Gephardt said his team had met most senior bureaucrats and ministers of India except Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The delegation, however, met the prime minister's Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra. It also met the ministers for home, defence, finance, and external affairs, as well as leaders of the opposition Congress party.

Jim McDermott and Mike Foley, founder members of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives, are also in the team.

The main purpose of the visit, according to Gephardt, was to continue with the friendship momentum and bring the oldest and largest democracies closer.

"Over the years, we have found that the US has not paid sufficient attention to India. We need more such exchanges between the peoples of both countries to tap the full potential of Indo-US relations," he said.

According to him, President Bill Clinton remains keen to visit India and may do so by the end of this year.

Gephardt and the others emphasised that while the US is against nuclear proliferation, it understands India's security concerns and the need for the Pokhran tests.

"Ideally, we would have preferred it if India had not tested. But we can't go back in time and the challenge is to go ahead. And I think [Deputy Secretary of State] Strobe Talbott's talks with [External Affairs Minister] Jaswant Singh have made some progress," he said.

About signing the CTBT, he said the team found that most Indians and their leaders are now open to the idea. "Of course, the final decision has to come from the Indian people. Were it to appear that India is signing the CTBT because of American pressure, it would then become politically unacceptable to any government," he admitted.

He said there was no link between the US president's visit to India and the signing of the CTBT. "The president recently purchased some books on India, which shows that he is interested in the country. But he has not indicated when he will visit. Much will depend on how ties improve and not just on India signing the CTBT, which India will do only when it is ready to do so," said Gephardt.

He said the impression his team got from its meetings with the Congress party was that it was not opposed to India signing the CTBT as long as India's security concerns were met.

McDermott said the US had not been even-handed in its dealing with India and China. "China fires missiles over Taiwan, flexes its muscles, has human rights violations and yet we in the US continue to give it most-favoured nation status and continue our trade ties. We in the US have to understand India's concerns and also appreciate that culturally we are much closer with each other," the congressman said.

The delegates harped on the fact that both India and the US are democracies, obey the rule of law, and respect human rights. "The compatibility of our two countries has not received sufficient consideration and we hope to set right this anomaly," Gephardt added.

The delegates also said that while all of them were keen to end the sanctions, they were not sure what would happen once the one-year waiver ends. "We all will certainly lobby to either continue with the waiver or to end the sanctions, but we have to see how our colleagues react," said Foley.

The delegation hailed the recent bus diplomacy, calling it a "courageous step". "We are no one to tell India and Pakistan what to do, but the recent moves are certainly most welcome," said Gephardt.

"It is a courageous move given the fact that just a few days before it happened, some people dug up cricket pitches to prevent Pakistan from playing in India. Both the prime ministers need to be congratulated," McDermott added.

Gephardt admitted that Kashmir was discussed in the delegation's meeting with Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and said he hoped the issue would be resolved between the two parties. "Maybe the bus diplomacy will push forward talks on that score," he said.

The delegation, which is in India to get an overview of diplomatic, economic and trade issues between the two countries, is now headed for Bangalore, India's silicon city.

EARLIER REPORT:
India will sign CTBT if its security concerns are addressed: US team

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