Indian envoy publicly blasts US

[Guest guest]

Indian envoy publicly blasts US

 

Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC | April 02, 2004 09:00 IST

 

 

India's Ambassador to the United States, Lalit Mansingh, on Thursday

criticised the Bush administration for making Pakistan a 'major non-

NATO ally'.

 

"Let me start by expressing our deep disappointment with what has

happened," Mansingh said following his keynote speech at a

conference entitled 'US-India Bilateral Cooperation: Taking Stock

and Moving Forward', organised by the Sigur Centre for Asian Studies

at George Washington University. "The disappointment is on account

on both substance and style."

 

He said one of the biggest achievements "in my mind of the dialogue

we had with the United States is the establishment of a level of

trust.

 

"When President [bill] Clinton went to India, there were

apprehensions, would the United States do what it has done in the

past, saying things we want to hear in India, then go to Pakistan

and say things that Pakistan wanted to hear. What impressed us most

about President Clinton was he said exactly the same things in both

capitals.

 

"Now this is what we expect in a strategic partnership."

 

He accused the US of breaching trust.

 

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, within 48 hours of holding talks

with Indian leaders in New Delhi, went to Islamabad and made the

announcement of Pakistan becoming a major Non-NATO ally.

 

"Now it is the prerogative of the United States to do anything it

likes with Pakistan. But you cannot remove the hyphen on paper and

keep the hyphen in your mind, and say we have to do this for India,

in which case we must do that for Pakistan," the envoy said.

 

"Now the explanations that were given I think made things worse when

we were told that it wasn't important enough to share with you,"

Mansingh noted. "Then we're told, no big deal, we've been discussing

it for months and months, so what is the big surprise.

 

"And three, if India wants it, we can also give it to you. So this

has left a certain bitterness," he said.

 

Not once during these remarks did Mansingh mention Powell by name.