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The US President Donald Trump’s repeated mention that he facilitated the ‘ceasefire’ between India and Pakistan is being held against the BJP government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular, by the opposition Congress, as if he (Modi) advised Trump on his foreign policy! But it is not for the first time that the United States has shown such an interest in Kashmir. It has happened in the past as well, but never did the opposition in India blame the government for that.

About 22 years ago, when Bill Clinton took over as the US President in January, 1993, he adopted an aggressively hostile posture towards India on Kashmir. It was the Congress government, headed by PV Narsimha Rao, at the centre then. The BJP was the principal opposition party and had a strong presence in the Lok Sabha, but neither the BJP, nor the then Leader of Opposition, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, blamed Rao or the Congress for the hostile policy of US towards India. Instead, they decided to work together and succeeded in strongly and effectively defending the country's position in the United Nations. Even the US had to eventually retreat and appreciate India’s position. 

Traditionally, the US had been a strong ally of Pakistan. However, during the Gulf War, India allowed the refuelling of the US warplanes at its airports when Chandershekhar was the Prime Minister and Inder Kumar Gujral the Foreign Minister. The Gulf War had been necessitated by the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, when the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein overran the country. Hussein was a strong ally of India. Despite that, India allowed refuelling of the US warplanes against Iraq. This led to ‘slight warmth’ in diplomatic relations between India and the US, and that too under the Republican President George Bush. Republicans were till then supposed to be more pro-Pak and anti-India, as compared to the Democrats.

When Clinton took over, it was sort of a role reversal. Influenced by his Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphael, he described Kashmir as the ‘most dangerous place in the world’ and referred to it in his UN General Assembly Speech in September 1993. This was followed up by Raphael’s controversial statements, saying, “we do not recognise the instrument of accession as meaning that Kashmir is forever an integral part of India… the people of Kashmir have got to be consulted in any kind of final settlement of the Kashmir dispute”. As if that was not enough, Clinton wrote a letter to Ghulam Nabi Fai, Washington-based head of a Pakistan sponsored pro-separatist/terrorist ‘Kashmir American Council’ saying, “looking forward to cooperating with Fai to help bring peace in Kashmir.”

Robin Raphael was a close friend of the Clintons, both Bill as well as Hillary. She had deep links with Pakistan. Her husband Arnold Raphel, who was the US Ambassador to Pakistan in 1987, was killed along with General Zia ul Haq in the mysterious plane crash. Her love for Pakistan outlived her husband! 

Benazir Bhutto was again elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1993. She continued to mount pressure on India, which she had started to build up during her first term. With a friendly Raphael in the US administration, she got emboldened. She had got a resolution passed, during her previous term, on February 9, 1990, rejecting Kashmir’s accession with India. After returning to power, she started harping on the same theme with the US backing, as she had become a favourite of the US administration, particularly the Clintons.

By then, India had managed to stabilize economically and politically — after the devastating but short-lived tenure of VP Singh and Chandershekhar — under PV Narsimha Rao as the Prime Minister. He did not bow under US pressure; on the contrary, he put up a strong resistance. On February 22, 1994, both the houses of the Parliament passed a unanimous resolution reaffirming that the state of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and called for taking back the part of Kashmir that was under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. This was a clear snub to Clinton and his Assistant Secretary of State, Raphael.  

Within five days of Indian resolution, Pakistan, with the support of the Organisation of the Islamic Countries, moved a resolution in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (later rechristened as United Nations Human Rights Council) in Geneva on February 27, 1994, seeking to condemn India over the alleged atrocities on Kashmiris. Had the resolution been passed, it could have led to UN sanctions against India. 

Then came about the famous and monumental strategy to counter Pakistan; Rao personally took the charge while taking everyone on board. He appointed Leader of the Opposition Vajpayee as head of the delegation to the UNHRC. The delegation consisted of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, the then minister of state for External Affairs, Salman Khrushid, another minister in the government E Ahmad, and Hamid Ansari.

Benazir Bhutto, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan was personally around to lobby in the United Nations. To counter her, Rao deputed Dr Manmohan Singh, who by that time had become famous worldwide for scripting economic reforms in India. 
The most important, but the least acknowledged, role was played by the then External Affairs Minister Dinesh Singh, even though he was indisposed and hospitalized at that time. Iran and China were two prominent supporters of Pakistan, backing the resolution. Rao sent Singh to Tehran in a special flight. The then Iranian Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Vilayati, was a personal friend of Rao. Vilayati facilitated Singh’s meeting with the Iranian President Hashmi Rafsanjani. Singh delivered a letter from Rao to Rafsanjani. 

Incidentally, the then Chinese Foreign Minister Aian Qichen was also in Tehran at that time. Singh also met him. Later, he returned to India and straightway drove to hospital and got readmitted. 

Vajpayee, while in Geneva, used the influence of Hinduja brothers, who were close to Iranian regime, to support India. It worked. 
Meanwhile, Rao continued to work on China and apparently drew a bargain with the Chinese by voting in their favour in a separate matter in the United Nations. 

Within eleven days, Rao had turned the tables on Pakistan. When the resolution had to come up for voting on March 9, 1994, Pakistan withdrew it at 5 pm, fearing its defeat. Its prominent supporters in the OIC, including Indonesia and Libya, had by now withdrawn their support. Syria wanted the resolution to be revised. As China and Iran had already withdrawn their support, Pakistan, fearing defeat, withdrew the resolution before it was to be put to vote, obviously fearing defeat. 

That is how Rao led from the front, used all the resources at his disposal and made Pakistan beat a retreat, despite strong backing of the US. And he let Vajpayee get all the credit. 

In stark contrast now, the government of India may have managed to send a ‘united delegation’ of MPs belonging to all political parties to different countries across the world, but back home there is no sense of unity. The principal opposition party, the Congress, appears to be keen on settling scores with the government. Although the party has valid and justified reasons for grievances, this is not the right time. The party could wait for some other day. But it seems in utter hurry to ensure that the government, Prime Minister Modi in particular, does not get a reason to claim military and diplomatic victory over Pakistan. But that is how it is today and both the opposition as well as the ruling parties are to share the blame.

 

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