Date:12/07/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/07/12/stories/2002071205400100.htm

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Lambah quits as special envoy

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI July 11. The resignation of Satinder Lambah as India's special envoy to Afghanistan would appear to be part of a larger churning process in the Ministry of External Affairs, which has seen a near-simultaneous change of guard at Minister and Secretary levels.

While confirming that Mr. Lambah had, indeed, put in his papers, the Foreign Office spokesperson stressed this evening that the resignation was absolutely voluntary.

``As you know, he has been special envoy to Afghanistan since November last year and he's been closely involved in our discussions with Afghanistan, in the reconstruction process... Mr. Lambah has decided that he would like to voluntarily resign at this point...'' she said.

Sources said the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, in recent remarks to officials had referred to the "over-emphasis'' in India's foreign policy on Afghanistan. The view expressed was that this "over-emphasis'' was not yielding the necessary results and policy corrections were called for.

Mr. Lambah said the work assigned to him had been completed though he could have continued in his assignment as it was open-ended and Cabinet-approved. Mr. Lambah was appointed by the then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh.

The practice of appointing retired officers as ``advisers'' and "special envoys'' has not gone down well with the Foreign Service, which is of the view that their work is being duplicated. With Arun Singh having left and K.V. Rajan ceasing to be adviser last year, there are no "outsiders'' holding positions of responsibility in the Ministry of External Affairs. Mr. Lambah's resignation allows for a "clean slate'' to the Sinha-Sibal team to steer the foreign policy in the direction they desire.