The Independent,
December, 8, 2012
M.
Serajul Islam
I
remember vividly when Inder Kumar Gujral had visited Dhaka to attend the
India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Business Summit in Dhaka in January 81997. The Sumit
was the initiative of Sheikh Hasina who as Prime Minister believed, and
correctly so, that the best way to improve relationship among the nations of
South Asia was to encourage business and economic relationship among the
countries of the region. That was a bold initiative and in a way a departure
from SAARC that had failed to make a major impact as a regional organization.
IK
Gujral responded to the idea of the Bangladesh Prime Minister spontaneously.
Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan was also equally enthusiastic to
the initiative. Nevertheless, as we sat in negotiations in the Sonargoan Hotel,
the venue of the Summit, we got nowhere for at the level of the bureaucrats,
there was practically no interest to the enthusiasm of their leaders to the
Summit. The Indian and the Pakistani delegations sat for 2 days and still could
not agree on a draft declaration. The issue upon which they spent most of the
time was whether in the Dhaka Declaration, peace should precede development or
the other way round.
By
7pm on the concluding day of the Summit, India and Pakistan delegations would
not concede from their entrenched positions. In frustration, the Bangladesh
delegation that was chairing the drafting committee as the host ended the
meeting and reported to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that as Pakistan
and India would not relent from their entrenched positions, the committee was
unable to present an agreed draft Dhaka Declaration to the Summiteers. By then
the delegations were all packed to depart and in fact, the aircrafts of the
Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers were ready to take off.
Sheikh
Hasina went to IK Gujral at first and explained to him the position taken by
his delegation. Instantly, the Indian Prime Minister called the Indian delegation
and instructed the leader that he wanted the Dhaka Declaration ready within the
hour! The Pakistan Prime Minister also acted likewise. We hurriedly went back to the drafting room
and had the Dhaka Declaration ready within minutes. The Dhaka Declaration was
signed. It was an initiative of Sheikh Hasina that had great potentials but it
did not go anywhere because shortly after his visit to Dhaka, IK Gujral lost
his position as the Indian Prime Minister.
IK
Gujral unfortunately was not the leader of either the Congress or the BJP when
he was the Prime Minister. He had left the Congress in 1980 to join the Janata
Dal. He came to power after the Congress withdrew its support to the Janata led
United Front coalition government headed by Deve Gowde. As a consequence he was
often referred to as the “accidental” Prime Minister. Nevertheless, in the 11 months he remained in
office, from May 1996 to April, 1997, he showed the vision of leading an India
with close and friendly relations with all its neighbours. His emphasis was on
developing friendly relations with India’s arch rival, Pakistan but he looked
upon India’s relations with its smaller nations with equal, if not more
importance.
IK
Gujral developed what was named after him
as the “Gujral Doctrine” as a guideline for India in dealing with its smaller
neighbours that did not pose any security threat to it. He developed the
Doctrine while serving as the Minister for External Affairs in the Janata
Government of Deve Gowde. (IK Gujral was
earlier the Minister of External Affairs in the Janata Government headed by VP
Singh). The Doctrine applied to India’s neighbours Bangladesh, Nepal; Sri Lanka,
Bhutan and Maldives and quite logically excluded Pakistan. The five principles
of the Gujral Doctrine were, first, India would deal with the South Asian
neighbour minus Pakistan on good faith and trust and provide them their
legitimate rights without demanding reciprocity. Second, these neighbours would
not allow their territories to be used against the interest of another country.
Third, none of these South Asian countries would interfere in one another’s
internal affairs. Fourth, the neighbours would respect one another’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty. Finally, the South Asian neighbours
would resolve their conflicts trough consultations and negotiations.
Unfortunately,
the Gujral Doctrine remained a doctrine on paper and did not see the light of
day. There were serious critics of the Doctrine, particularly among the
bureaucrats and the intelligence who thought that by the Doctrine, India would
be surrendering intelligence assets to neighbours without assurance that they
would not use such intelligence against India. Following the terrorist attacks
on India since 2000, culminating in the 24/11 or the Mumbai terrorist attack of
2008, the IK Gujral came under fire in the media. India Today in a report
mentioned that these attacks could be launched because of “capability that IK
Gujral dismantled as Prime Minister” as a consequence of his vision of
developing friendly relations with India’s neighbours. In fact, the Gujral Doctrine was a non-starter
and reflected the intellectual intent of its author against the reality of
Indian politics and mindset of Indian politicians and bureaucrats entrusted
with responsibility of dealing with its neighbours. This notwithstanding, IK Gujral that did India a major favour as
Prime Minister by his resistance to sign the CTBT that allowed his successor to
conduct the Pokhran nuclear tests without a hitch.
IK
Gujral was born in Jhelum, Pakistan in 1919. He had his education in Lahore, in
Hailey College of Commerce. He participated in the independence movement and
was jailed. As a student, he was a member of the Communist Party of India and
although later in his political life, he switched parties a few times, he always
favoured the politics of the left. In the 1960s, he was a member of the
Congress and played a significant role with others in the inner coterie that
helped Indira Gandhi become the Prime Minister of India. He became her Minister
of Information at a critical period when her government had imposed press
censorship. He was removed from the Ministry in the wake of rumours that he was
unwilling to bend to the demands of Sanjay Gandhi that helped establish his
impeccable credentials as a politician of integrity. He was appointed as
India’s Ambassador to USSR by the Government of Indira Gandhi but was kept in
his post by the successive Janata Governments of Moraji Desai and Charan Singh.
He proved to be a very successful Ambassador.
In
1998, IK Gujral left Janata Dal but was elected to the Lok Sabha one last time as
an independent. His political career, if it had not been backed by his
intellectual abilities, his integrity and statesman like qualities that were
well acknowledged, would have hinted at a wavering politician not certain about
the party he needed to join to carry forward his ideas and beliefs. In reality
though, IK Gujral was a misfit in Indian politics. The attacks on IK Gujral in
the media and in the intelligence circles has been unfortunate because one serious
criticisms about India as it becomes a major player in world politics is its
failure to deal with its smaller neighbours fairly and with a big heart. The
Gujral Doctrine had given India the opportunity to establish on the world stage
that it is not a petty minded power; an opportunity that it missed. IK Gujral’s
death would be worthwhile only if the present political leadership of India
cares to take a dispassionate look again at the Gujral Doctrine that has been and
still is potentially an excellent doctrine for peace, security and development
of South Asia, excluding Pakistan for the time being.
The
writer is a former career Ambassador
No comments:
Post a Comment