The Rediff Special/ K P Nayar

MEA officials are angry that the Gujral doctrine obliges them not only to swallow Pak insults, but also to be effusive with those in Islamabad who insult them

The bon homie that was evident between the two prime ministers was totally missing between the two foreign secretaries. Pakistan's foreign minister too kept up an aggressive posture, accusing the Indian army of rape and murders in Kashmir since the foreign secretary level dialogue was resumed in March. The idea was to turn the heat on India, knowing that Gujral, in his obsession to leave a mark on Indo-Pakistani relations, could be exploited by Islamabad.

But they had not reckoned with Haidar and South Block's bureaucracy -- the same bureaucracy which played a devastatingly effective role a few days earlier in scuttling the appointment of Bhabani Sengupta in the prime minister's office. For once, Haidar, who had been perceived as a dove on Pakistan during Pranab Mukherjee's tenure as external affairs minister, had acquitted himself marvelously.

Haider acted because he and the professional diplomats in South diplomats in South Block had been driven to the wall by Gujral and his cohorts on Pakistan. When Ahmad and his delegation arrived in New Delhi in March for the foreign secretary-level talks, Gujral ordered not only Haidar, but the entire Pakistan desk at the ministry of external affairs to receive the Pakistani team at the airport. The Indian officials smarted over the order because the Pakistanis had shabbily treated all Indian officials visiting Pakistan in recent years.

K Srinivasan was the last Indian foreign secretary to visit Islamabad. He had gone to Pakistan well after the Indo-Pakistan bilateral dialogue had broken down, having undertaken the journey to attend a meeting of senior Commonwealth officials. Islamabad made it clear that Srinivasan was unwelcome: Pakistan's foreign secretary even told the media that he happened to exchange a few words with Srinivasan only because they happened to stand next to each other during the coffee break during the Commonwealth meeting.

When Vivek Katju, a Kashmiri who heads South Block's Pakistan desk, went to Islamabad on a familiarization visit shortly after he took over, the Pakistanis ordered every single official whom Katju contacted not to meet him. When India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad hosted a dinner at his residence in honour of Katju, not a single Pakistani official turned up: they did not even show the courtesy of regretting the deputy high commissioner's invitation.

That was not all. Customarily, Indian officials visiting Islamabad are allowed to go to Murree. On this occasion, Katju was denied permission to travel outside the capital or go to Murree. Professional diplomats in South Block have several similar stories to tell and they are all angry that the Gujral doctrine now obliges them not only to swallow these insults, but also to be effusive with those in Islamabad who insult them.

Haidar's recalcitrance in Male has raised question marks about the agenda for the foreign secretaries meeting in Islamabad next month. If he sticks to his tough stand, the euphoria over the Male summit may be shorter than anticipated. The growing belief in South Block is that Gujral may find a way out of the impasse by naming a new foreign secretary ( which he has done; K Raghunath will succeed Haidar when the foreign secretary rerires on June 30). This will make Haidar a lame duck even if he travels to Islamabad.

Kind Courtesy: The Telegraph

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