Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's assurance in the
Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Wednesday that India
had the inherent strength to face the post-Pokhran
sanctions has assumed significance. Minister of State
for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje also stated, for
the nth time, that India would not sign the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in its present form.
Observers said the moves point to India's keenness on
maintaining a consistent stand on security matters,
''forward movements'' in the just-concluded Indo-US
(Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott) talks notwithstanding.
The talks may have been ''constructive'', but the South
Asian security scenario remains unchanged, Asia-watchers
said.
But the talks, they conceded, have helped keep
communication channels between New Delhi and Washington
open, a positive development in itself.
Vajpayee's special emissary Jaswant Singh, the Planning
Commission's deputy chairman, will meet US Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright in Manila next week. Given
Vajpayee's statement, it is certain that Singh will
reiterate India's position on the CTBT and other
security aspects. It remains to be seen if the US has
anything up its sleeve to make New Delhi rethink its
strategy.
Meanwhile, news has already filtered in from Islamabad
that Pakistan will raise the Kashmir issue during the
Colombo session of the South Asian Association of
Regional Co-operation. Since India's stance for long has
been that Kashmir is a bilateral issue, Pakistan may be
heard out, but India would reject a third-party
mediatory role, sources at the ministry of external
affairs said.
They further said that by demanding such mediation,
Islamabad has exposed its designs on the valley,
something India will seek to frustrate.