India mobilising opinion

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 30. A senior official of the Foreign Office, Mr. S. T. Devare, is to leave for Australia and New Zealand in the next few days in an effort to mobilise international opinion in the matter of the ongoing constitutional turmoil in Fiji. This will be the first overt effort to be made by India. Mr. Devare is also likely to visit Suva, capital of Fiji.

So far the Government had refrained from any direct involvement, lest New Delhi's exertions be seen as provocation, which could rebound to the disadvantage of the ethnic Indian community in Fiji. But it is stated on good authority that India has been in touch with Australia, New Zealand, Britain. In the next few days the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group is likely to be activated. The CMAG is expected to set up a ``range of markers'' which the new governing arrangement in Suva must subscribe to, failing which the Commonwealth could think in terms of economic measures and ultimately invoke the Harare principles. However, there is a realisation that there are definite limits to economic interventionism in Fiji.

The Indian approach, in tandem with other concerned countries in the region, is to ensure that there was no return to the 1990 constitutional scheme of things, which institutionalized racism by debarring Fijians of Indian origins from holding high offices. The official judgment about the coup leader Mr. George Speight is that his action add up to ``terrorism''.

The Vajpayee Government has found itself increasingly under pressure at home to be seen as doing something about the developments in Fiji. Today the BJP came out strongly in favour of international sanctions against Fiji to pressure it to restore a democratic order.

Over the last ten days the BJP has been silent on Fiji, but today the party took note of the developments at a meeting of its foreign affairs cell, chaired by Mr. N. N. Jha, and attended among others by Mr. Brajesh Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The party is clear that a legitimate prime minister has been overthrown, the president has been dismissed and the 1997 Constitution has been disbanded. ``This was a cause for worry. We do not want some Fijians (read ethnic Indians) to become second class citizens,'' argued Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the party spokesman. He further argued that it was ``natural'' for India to worry about the happenings there as 40 per cent of the population was that of ethnic Indians.

Not just the BJP, even the Congress(I) has demanded a ``pro- active'' approach towards the Fiji developments. The Congress(I) and the BJP believe the Government should be mobilising Commonwealth opinion and precedents against the illegal overthrow of the democratic Government in Fiji.

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