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Democracies should join hands against terror, says Vajpayee

By Harish Khare

NEW YORK SEPT. 23. Relations between India and the United States have to flourish in the context of the global war against terrorism and there are four essential elements in an optimal long-term strategy, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has said.

The first element, Mr. Vajpayee said, was a "concert of democracies acting in cohesion", which meant that a threat against one should be seen as a threat against all.

Second, consistency of approach in demanding from all countries the same high standards in combating terrorism. Third, continuity of resolve and clarity of purpose. That meant that we had to avoid "the grey zone of conflicting policy objectives, which condone ambiguous positions on terrorism."

Four, "expand the constituency of democracy by promoting the ideals of freedom, democracy, rule of law and tolerance".

Though couched in seemingly global terms, all the four elements neatly fit into New Delhi's case against the United States' "double-standards" on Pakistan. This, in fact, has been the running theme of the prime ministerial diplomatic efforts here so far: without wanting to be seen as fixated on Pakistan, he has been trying to hammer away at Islamabad's continued sponsorship of terrorism, aimed primarily at India.

He was speaking to a select gathering of foreign policy scholars and experts at the prestigious Asia Society on the theme of "India-U.S. Relations in the Emerging Global Environment." Mr. Vajpayee was, in fact, the inaugural speaker in a series of "Asian Distinguished Leaders", sponsored by the Citigroup.

Expatiating on Indo-U.S. relations, Mr. Vajpayee cautioned that it would need "wisdom and foresight to recognise the irrefutable logic of the India-U.S. partnership" because the two countries continued to face "internal resistance, old habits and traditional perspectives on both sides".

The "emerging global environment", according to Mr. Vajpayee, continued to be defined by a lack of security and stability. Instead of the post-Cold War scenarios settling down, "new political problems and security challenges have been thrust upon us." And the need, as he saw it, was to "shape global politics and international relations within a framework of plurality and equality, based on consensus, compassion, co-existence and co-operation. This cooperative world has to be development-oriented, to accommodate the interests of all."

In other words, the Prime Minister was telling his audience that the United States could not possibly hope to impose its views and solutions on the world. There had to be "a balance between national interest and international responsibility." And, that Iraq and Afghanistan would be "two immediate test cases of our efforts to build a world order based on cooperation and partnership".

At the same time, Mr. Vajpayee said that India-U.S. relationship was better placed than before because the two countries addressed each other "with the confidence and candour of friends". The movement forward in India-U.S. relationship had taken primarily because New Delhi and Washington "have recognised that there is no fundamental conflict of interest between us".

Mr. Vajpayee referred to the "substantive defence cooperation" and to the "common concerns on terrorism, trans-national crime and cyber crime". And he noted that the Indian-Americans had become "one of the wealthiest minorities" in the United States. The Indian economy was growing which provided the basis for taking the bilateral relations to qualitatively new level.

Notwithstanding the substantive formulations in the written speech, the Prime Minister's performance at the Asia Society could not be billed as one of his best.

He appeared to read through the speech in a mechanical fashion, skipping paragraphs. Nor was the evening formatted for him to interact with the audience.

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