Date:17/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/17/stories/2008081759011000.htm

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A “shocking” approach

Siddharth Varadarajan

NEW DELHI: Ambassador Chester Bowles’s secret cable of December 12, 1967 reveals that after being rebuffed by Indira Gandhi, the Canadian High Commissioner tried his luck with Rajeshwar Dayal, who was Foreign Secretary at the time. “Our informant characterized Dayal’s reaction to the High Commissioner’s approach as ‘shocking’,” notes Bowles.

“Dayal reportedly said India would never give up an iota of hard-fought independence by signing the NPT... Let everyone stop their aid. India would survive. The important thing was to protect the nation’s freedom and independence from foreign domination, whatever the source and whatever the guise.”