US played spoiler when Pak-India peace treaty was imminent: ex-Indian official

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan had agreed on a peace and no-war treaty and were on the verge of signing it in July 1984 before Pakistan President Ziaul Haq, who had even dismissed any need to discuss Kashmir, backtracked on the advice of American lawmakers, the Indian media quoting former Indian foreign secretary M K Rasgotra reported on Monday.

In his autobiography ‘A Life in Diplomacy’, Rasgotra, who was the foreign secretary 1982-85 and is now in his nineties, recalls ahead of his visit to Islamabad, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave him a free hand telling him ...you know it all and you can talk to them about any subject they want to talk about including Kashmir and the ‘no-war pact’ they are so keen about. She was leaving on a visit to the US, and wanted to know if General Zia was sincere in talks or not.

As Rasgotra called on him at the President House in Islamabad, President Zia with the humility and charm he was known for, was standing in the veranda close to where he would get out of the car and welcomed him with a big hug. During the talks, to India’s willingness to talk about Kashmir, Zia’s response was noteworthy. “Rasgotra Sahib, what is there to talk about Kashmir? “You have Kashmir and we cannot take it. I want you and (Pakistani foreign secretary) Niaz A Naik to work on a ‘Treaty of Peace and Good Neighbourliness’ including a ‘No War Pact’,” he quoted the Pakistani leader as saying.

He said progress was made in discussions on the agreement to the extent that in March 1984, Niaz Naik himself proposed that the Indian draft of a ‘Treaty of Peace and Friendship’ and Pakistan’s draft of a ‘No War Pact’ should be merged. By May 1984, there was full agreement on all the six or seven clauses in the draft treaty’s preamble and also on nine out of the 11 articles of the treaty’s operative part and both sides reached an agreement on these two also.

Accordingly, Naik announced in the final plenary meeting of the two delegations that “on clauses IV and V he and I had reached an understanding to which he would obtain the president’s approval on his return from the UAE and we would all meet in Delhi in July to initial or sign the treaty. But the July meeting never took place.”

According to Rasgotra, there were two reasons why Zia changed his mind… and the primary one was the advice of his American well-wishers.

While awaiting the president’s return from the UAE, Naik had telegraphed the text to Foreign Minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, who was on a visit to Washington, DC. Khan took the text around to his friends in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, who strongly advised him against signing a treaty of that kind with India.

Rasgotra says he learnt of this from a Congressman friend of his from his earlier stints in the US and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “asking me why we were coercing Pakistan into signing an anti American treaty.”The other reason was India’s current troubles in Punjab, says Rasgotra.