Tuesday 2 July 2013

John Kerry’s visit was disappointingly formal

Anil Narendra    

As a Senator, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State has visited India a number of times, but this was his maiden visit as the Secretary of State and that too, with the intent of holding important strategic talks. India and the US do not agree on a number of bilateral and international issues and this is the conclusion of the fourth round of strategic talks between two countries. Perhaps, there was little hope of any positive result of the talks, because there appeared to be divergent views on many issues. It has become customary these days to term bilateral relations or mutual talks between the two countries as strategic, if these are to be given importance. But, if there is basic difference of opinion on the talks’ agenda, then naturally the talks cannot be termed as strategic. Even prior to John Kerry’s visit to India, opinions were being expressed, which were not favourable to India. There are, however a number of issues that deserve attention of both the countries, but the most important issue, at present, concerns the US Afghan policy, at this juncture. It became clear from the statements issued in New Delhi by John Kerry that the US, which is prepared to talk to Taliban to facilitate its withdrawal from Afghanistan, is not prepared to offend Pakistan with its action or talks at present. The reason for this may be that Taliban may be dancing to the tunes of Pakistan to some extent. As a result, John Kerry forgot to mention about the victims of the 26/11 terror attack. On the contrary, he even advised India and Pakistan to invest in mutual relations, only then the world would in vest in them. The advice may be right, but it does not answer the question that how India can have faith in Pakistan and invest there, when it continues to allow terrorists to operate from its soil, it doesn’t give up its efforts to gain strategic objectives through terrorism and continue to convert Afghanistan into its advance post of its strategic policy? The joint statement issued at the conclusion of the talks had no mention of spying on India on a very large scale by Iran, Syria and the US and this indicated that differences between India and the US on many issues still persist. It is being said that the warmth in relations with India during the first tenure of Barack Obama is no more visible in his second tenure. There appears to be a static phase in relationship. It may be due to the recession being faced by both the economies. Foreign trade and foreign investment are static. America is under pressure to take protectionist steps in the country. The US also wants India to further relax its nuclear liability laws, so that nuclear pact could be furthered. It will not be easy for the UPA Government that had to face an uphill task in getting the law cleared by the Parliament, to subject it to further amendments. Moreover, India wants US to support it in getting a berth in the Nuclear Disarmament Agency. There were thus formal announcements of strengthening mutual relations in the name of the so-called strategic talks and the talks were just rendered formal talks. The issues like obstacles in getting American visa by Indian IT personnel and Obama administration’s policy against outsourcing have made the trade relations between the two countries more complex. Kerry has not given any assurance for removing these obstacles. The US vice-President Joe Biden will be coming to India next month, while the US-visit of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has almost been decided for September. Let’s wait and watch whether the disputed issues between both the countries are resolved or not. The John Kerry visit has been most disappointing and nothing has been gained by it.

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