M A I N   N E W S

A Tribune Exclusive
MEA grounds Amarinder, ministers 
Chitleen K. Sethi & Maneesh Chhibber
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 31
Peeved at the frequent foreign jaunts of Punjab ministers without seeking prior permission or, in some cases, simply seeking the mandatory go-ahead at the proverbial last minute, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has come down heavily on the state government.

Ever since they formed the government, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his ministers have undertaken many foreign trips, with the Chief Minister leading the way. In the majority of cases, the Chief Minister’s visits abroad have earned the ire of the opposition parties and some of his own party men also. Questions have also been raised on the purpose behind the numerous visits of the Chief Minister to Dubai, with one of the visits even inviting strong censure by the Union Government.

In a recent communication, the Ministry of External Affairs has told the state government not to accept any foreign invitations, especially from foreign missions, the various wings of missions of other countries and foreign companies without its prior permission.

The missive also refers to the permission sought by the state Finance Minister, Mr Surinder Singla, to visit the UK on the invitation of the Trade and Investment Division of the British High Commission.

When Mr Singla’s plea for permission to visit London to participate in the Royal Show on Agriculture from July 2-5 was turned down by the MEA, he met Union Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma on July 4 to plead his case. It was only at the intervention of the minister that Mr Singla’s trip was allowed.

However, in a quick move to check more such requests the MEA wrote to the state government making it clear that the clearance granted to Mr Singla was a one-time exception. “It should, however, be clearly understood by the Punjab Government that it must follow the guidelines issued by the MEA in dealing with foreign governments and their missions in India. The MEA will not be able to make any exception in future,” the communiqué sent by the Joint Secretary (Coordination), MEA, Mr Yogesh Gupta, says.

The strongly-worded communiqué is addressed to the Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal.

The communiqué also tells the government functionaries to desist from unilaterally accepting invitations to visit foreign countries. The letter goes on to say that as per the instructions dated March 7, 2000, no state government functionary can accept such invitations without the prior approval of the MEA. In fact, all such invites have to be routed through the MEA and can’t be sent directly to the state government functionaries.

“In case, any communication is addressed by a foreign mission directly to a state government, including invitations to ministers and senior government officials to visit abroad, the latter should consult the MEA at the earliest opportunity,” the letter reads.

Referring to Mr Singla’s case, the communiqué says, “In this case, the Punjab Government accepted the invitation and only approached the MEA for political clearance, which is not correct. The invitation itself should have been sent to the MEA for its advice”.

The MEA communiqué to the Punjab Government follows a confidential memo issued by the Cabinet Secretary, Mr B.K. Chaturvedi, to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, on June 1 asking him to strictly enforce the instructions dated March 7, 2000.

“The MEA instructions have been evolved keeping in view the considerations of proper coordination and the implementation of the foreign policy objectives and protocol. In this context, the possible security implications of non-adherence to the MEA instructions also have to be kept in sight. With economic liberalisation and globalisation, the crucial and sensitive segments of our industrial and technological institutions are receiving much greater attention worldwide for both strategic and commercial considerations,” the Cabinet Secretary’s letter says.

Besides causing security concerns, such visits also lead to diplomatic faux pas. In fact, Mr Chaturvedi also refers to this, and adds, “There is a need to be mindful that the ways of cultivating contacts by the foreign missions could include direct invitations to seminars or training programmes abroad or soliciting CVs under some pretext. A number of cases of such nature have come to light recently”.