Vision statement getting ready

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20. Hoping to make a new beginning in Indo-U.S. relations, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the visiting U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, will meet tomorrow morning at Hyderabad House here for substantive political consultations.

Despite the continuing differences over nuclear weapons and Pakistan, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Vajpayee will announce their determination to initiate a qualitatively different engagement between India and the United States.

The two leaders will meet first with a few top aides and later joined by full delegations. From the Indian side the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brajesh Misra, are likely to assist Mr. Vajpayee.

Mr. Clinton will have at hand the Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, and the National Security Advisor, Mr. Samuel R. Berger.

Earlier in the day, a breakfast meeting with Mr. Misra and Mr. Berger is likely to set the stage for the talks at the highest level.

Another meeting between Mr. Jaswant Singh and Ms. Albright on Wednesday morning will wrap up the Indo- U.S. political dialogue.

At the end of their talks, Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Clinton are expected to sign a vision statement that will look to the future and define the direction of future engagement between the two nations. Informed sources here indicate that the last remaining wrinkles in the document are being ironed out today.

On the nuclear question, no new developments are expected. Mr. Clinton and his team will insist that the full potential of bilateral relations cannot be realised until India takes concrete steps, such as signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Mr. Vajpayee will convey India's readiness to join the global nuclear order on the basis of a national consensus and reciprocal gestures from the international community.

India and the United States have similar assessments on the dangers of a failing state in Pakistan. But their policy prescriptions are entirely different.

Mr. Clinton wants to prevent total isolation of Pakistan and engage the military rulers there. A skeptical Vajpayee will warn against an appeasement of the Pakistan army.

On Kashmir and regional tensions between India and Pakistan, the U.S. President is likely to amplify on the latest American position. This includes three elements. One, the U.S. has no desire to mediate in the dispute. Two, it is opposed to any use of force to change the territorial status quo in Jammu and Kashmir. Three, it wants both sides to show restraint and respect the sanctity of the Line of Control.

India will reiterate that there can be no talks with Pakistan until Islamabad stops cross-border terrorism. The United States, however, has begun to publicly call on Pakistan to take steps to end terrorism.

The revival of Indo-Pak talks, so keenly desired by Mr. Clinton, will depend then on his ability to nudge Pakistan into taking specific actions that will create appropriate conditions for such a dialogue.

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