The Hindu : India can write off Iraqi debt

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 14, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

India can write off Iraqi debt

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI April 13. Any post-mortem of the quixotic support from the Indian political class, in the form of parliamentary resolutions last week, to the regime of Saddam Hussein during its dying days can wait for a while. India must, instead, focus on the post-war challenges in Iraq.

India needs to resist the temptation to get into a theoretical debate on who should be in charge of post-war political and economic reconstruction — the United Nations or the Anglo-American powers.

Indian diplomacy has a long tradition of revelling in semantic debates. For a change, India can concentrate on helping improve the ground conditions in Iraq rather than argue about theory.

For Russia and France, the emphasis on the U.N. role is not an abstract one. It is about their desire to regain a role in post-war Iraq, despite their opposition to the war. But unlike the two, India is not a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and has no reason to embroil itself in this debate.

* * *

New Delhi should offer its cooperation to the Anglo-American coalition in a number of areas. The immediate requirement in Iraq is the restoration of law and order, and India can contribute by sending at least a brigade-level force to promote security in the cities.

The other priorities are the restoration of civilian infrastructure and expanding relief operations, and providing medical facilities. Engineering and Medical units from the Indian Army can easily take on these jobs.

In a major gesture, New Delhi can simply write off the nearly $ 1 billion that Baghdad owes it. Despite all the talk of oil and what its exploitation could do to the economy, there is no way Baghdad can make progress with its staggering $ 400 billions of external debt.

With an annual economic output of around $ 25 billions, Iraq will be hard pressed to pay up. A complete scrapping of the debt would be the best way to launch the Iraqi people onto a new future. As the world debates options on the debt, India could take the lead.

* * *

If India is ready to consider an economic opening in its stalled relations with Pakistan, here is one. Last week, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a joint letter, inviting India to become part of the effort to build a $ 2.5 billion pipeline project to move natural gas from the massive Daulatabad field in southern Turkmenistan to the Indian Ocean or India through Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Asian Development Bank is financing the feasibility studies.

The letter urges the Indian Government to let a team of the ADB come over and discuss the issues relating to participation and the mitigation of security and other risks.

India, which is already looking at a similar project to bring natural gas from Iran through Pakistan, has been hesitant to consider any multilateral approach to such projects involving its neighbour.

Instead of refusing to engage Pakistan on economic issues until it opens up to bilateral trade, Indian diplomacy should be able to find ways to move commercial cooperation across a broad front. Participating in the discussions on the pipeline projects could perhaps open up a little more space for India and allow it to regain the diplomatic initiative from Pakistan.

* * *

The Dalai Lama is upbeat about the prospects of a dialogue and eventual reconciliation between Tibetan people and China. At a press interaction in the capital last week, he once again declared that he is not seeking ``independence'' from China, but only ``genuine autonomy''.

His remarks address one of the conditions imposed by the Chinese leadership for official talks with the Tibetan leadership. Besides words rejecting independence, Beijing says it wants an end to ``splittist'' activities from the Dalai Lama.

There were high-level contacts last year when the Dalai Lama's representatives, in their ``unofficial capacity'', were allowed into Tibet to meet local government officials. The Dalai Lama is bullish about these contacts and expects that China will receive another Tibetan delegation in the coming weeks.

India has every reason to encourage greater contact between the exiled Tibetan leadership and Chinese leaders and promote a dialogue. And as China opens up Tibet to the world, India must also take the opportunity to increase trade and tourism across the Sino-Indian border in Tibet and re-establish its commercial and diplomatic presence in Lhasa.

Reducing the differences with China over Tibet and transforming the border into a cooperative zone should be at the top of the agenda during the Defence Minister, George Fernandes' scheduled visit to Beijing later this month.

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