Aboard “Tanjore,” Air India 1, May 10
Even as the situation in Nepal is being continuously monitored and whatever arms supplies are in the pipeline cannot be held back for long, there is no point in counting the chickens before they are hatched with regard to the US remaining silent on extending support to India in its quest for a permanent seat in an expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Making these observations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that “we have to reckon the role of power equations and we are trying without minimising the hurdles in the way. We know that power is not in the hands of one country.”
Indo-US relations are very good without any bilateral tension and it is important that Washington is supportive of India’s aspirations. His agenda when he meets President George Bush later this summer is to explore new areas of cooperation and working together.
Significantly, the Prime Minister maintained that there are immense possibilities of cooperation in the trilateral engagement among India, Russia and China. My government’s approach is to enlarge the “concentric cirlces in which we walk together with like minded countries and take advantage of the forces unleashed by globalisation. Therefore, the meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers is a positive step forward in working together in an increasingly interdependent world. Energy cooperation is an important issue.”
“India’s requirement of commercial energy is going to rise very steeply and we have a very large and expanding market coupled with having in the trio Russia which is a vast energy producing country.”
On Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf harking back on Jammu and Kashmir being a core issue, the Prime Minister said “the two of us have signed a joint statement and I believe the intention of both of us is to ensure that the peace process is truly made irreversible.”
Asked if he had found a change of heart in Gen Musharraf during his visit to India last month, Dr Singh said “I am not good at reading hearts.”
When he had met Nepalese King Gyanendra in Jakarta recently, Dr Singh said in an interface with mediapersons aboard the special Air-India aircraft that he had advised the monarch to restart the democratic process and get a road map in place for a constitutional monarchy coupled with a framework of multi-party democracy. Both these pillars should be strengthened.
“Nepal is our closest neighbour and anything that happens in the Himalayan kingdom has its implications for us. At the same time, whatever is in the pipeline in respect of the arms supplies cannot be pulled back.”
