New Delhi, July 2
The change of guard in the Ministry of External Affairs is purely an administrative exercise and does not connote any shift, subtle or otherwise, in India’s foreign policy, particularly vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Well-placed sources in the government here asserted that India’s Pakistan policy would continue to charter the same course despite the two-tier changes in the MEA — Mr Yashwant Sinha replacing Mr Jaswant Singh as External Affairs Minister and Mr Digvijay Singh today taking over as the new Minister of State in the MEA. Mr Sinha assumes office tomorrow.
There will be no change in the major tenets of New Delhi’s policy vis-a-vis Islamabad, the broad contours of which are as follows:
* There will be no withdrawal of Indian troops from borders with Pakistan until the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, due in October, are completed peacefully. In fact, such is the conviction of the Vajpayee government that even an appraisal for the withdrawal of troops would not be done before October this year.
* There will be no dialogue with the Musharraf regime until Islamabad takes concrete measures to turn off its tap of terrorism completely and permanently.
* Till such time that Pakistan takes steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan and put an end to cross-border infiltration, India would keep a close watch on related developments while upgrading its High Commission in Islamabad to the level of High Commissioner.
The ground situation on the Line of Control, as of now, is that of late there has been a spurt in cross-border infiltration after a brief lull.
Significantly, against this backdrop, British Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon is arriving here tomorrow on a two-day visit during which New Delhi will brief him on the
current situation on the borders. Apart from Mr Sinha and Defence Minister George Fernandes, Mr Hoon will have discussions with Army Chief Gen S. Padmanabhan, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
