Talbott - Jaswant Talks: Vying for distant possibilities
06 Aug, 1998 · 128
Ashutosh Mishra says India is certainly is in an advantageous position after withstanding the pressure of the sanctions
Harold Saunders wrote in his book "The Other Walls" dealing with the Arab - Israeli peace process that, before the formal negotiations, begin the parties must prenegotiate to produce results from final negotiations. By prenegotiation he meant ‘defining the problem’ and ‘developing a commitment to negotiation’ by the parties.
India
and the
United States
are seen to be following this advice in the wake of Pokhran II. The recently concluded third round of talks between US Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh was referred to as " constructive". Though the two sides failed to bridge the gulf between them they displayed " a spirit of working together to narrow the gaps" in their respective standpoint. This was the only encouraging part. The talks were considered crucial by the two sides as they helped in clarifying their positions. A US Embassy spokesperson remarked after the talks, "It’s an on going process. It’s not a one shot thing".
India
’s stand on CTBT turned out to be, as expected, the bone of contention. The
US
was interested in
India
setting up landmarks for entry into the non- proliferation regime-in particular when and how it would build domestic consensus for reversing its opposition to the CTBT. Although the
US
acknowledged
India
’s difficulty in reversing its stand on the CTBT, it wanted a legally binding instrument to guarantee this reversal. This is the point on which no solution is in sight, at least for the time being.
India
discovered an interesting new formulation by the
US
. Till recently the
US
was insisting on unconditional and immediate adherence to the CTBT by
India
(and
Pakistan
), but it may be willing now to consider some credible movement in this direction. A State Department spokesman said the President has been authorised to waive sanctions "if
India
or
Pakistan
were to change their positions and to join in one way or another" the CTBT and other international regimes. What does ‘one way or another’ precisely denotes only time will reveal. But this much is certain that failure of the sanctions to pressurise
India
has forced the U.S to rethink its policy. The
US
has also realised that not much can be done once the nuclear tests have been conducted. At the same time it is firm in its resolve not to do anything that would convey a message to the international community that ‘gate crashers’ into the nuclear club went unpunished. How the
US
manages to reconcile these paradoxes is certainly going to produce considerable head scratching on its part.
India
is certainly is in an advantageous position after withstanding the pressure of the sanctions. And if
India
plays its cards well it could extract some relaxations on the present curbs on import of dual-use technology in lieu of signing the CTBT.
US
will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the nuclear hegemony of the P-5 remains unchallenged. But it should be emphasised that the
US
should be aware that the need of the hour is to ease tensions. Punitive actions like refusing visas to Indian scientists and deporting them from American soil would only prove counter-productive.
During the talks,
During the talks
It is believed that the