Prakash Karat

THE visit of the chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Henry Shelton, to India illustrates the speed with which the Vajpayee government is heading for strategic military ties with the United States. This is the first time that the US’s highest army officer, who is overall chief of the US armed forces, has paid an official visit for talks with Indian military officers and the defence minister. Since 1992, when the Narasimha Rao government agreed to military collaboration, visits by the US Pacific Forces commanders have been a regular feature. But the visit of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman shows how the relationship has progressed.

The Shelton visit is part of the overall moves consequent to India accepting the role of such a regional power as is subordinate to the US global military strategy. This visit has followed the trip made by Jaswant Singh, who is both the foreign and defence minister, to Washington in April. It signalled the resumption of military ties between the two countries which were disrupted by the Pokhran tests in May 1998. The United States had then stopped the ongoing military cooperation and imposed new sanctions on supply of sophisticated technology and equipment to India.

It was during the Narasimha Rao government that the first steps for military-to-military ties between the two countries were taken. It culminated in 1995 in an agreement on military cooperation. The Shelton visit marks the process of reviving the military ties which had come to a halt in 1998. As per the official briefing given by Shelton himself, top priority is being given to revive the Defence Policy Group under the 1995 pact. This is to be the apex coordination body between the Pentagon and the Indian defence ministry. In the earlier scheme, the Indian defence secretary was to head the Indian side. The other feature of the cooperation, which is now to be revived, is the executive steering committees between the two armies, navies and air forces. These committees would plan joint exercises and other exchanges.

The United States had already announced that it would extend the International Military Exchange Training (IMET) programme to the Indian armed forces in late 1999. Even before the lifting of the sanctions imposed after Pokhran, the United States was keen to offer training for the middle and higher level officers of the armed forces. The IMET programme is notorious for its patronage to and training of the armed forces of repressive regimes in Latin America. The Pakistan military has been one of the beneficiaries of this scheme. It is through such military ties that the Pentagon has suborned and used these armed forces as their tool for internal subversion.

During the Washington trip of Jaswant Singh, it was clear that America is interested in reviving those aspects of cooperation and exchanges which would provide access to the Indian armed forces and its structure at all levels, without the removal of the sanctions which prevent India from getting any sophisticated technology or military equipment. This is a strategic partnership in which India is clearly a subordinate partner.

The eagerness of the BJP-led government to become a junior ally is clear from Jaswant Singh's statement during his visit to Australia in May, wherein he inadvertently revealed that Americans could be given access to Indian military bases at a future date. Another significant revelation was made by the GOC of the Third Corps of Eastern Command, Lt Gen T S Shergill in June this year when he told the media that the US will be given access to the jungle warfare training college in Mizoram. The defence ministry subsequently sought to deny and play down this statement, just as it claimed that Jaswant Singh had been misquoted in Australia.

Given the anti-China bias of the BJP-RSS combine, the Vajpayee government is willing to cater to the Bush administration’s Contain China strategy. This explains its eager welcome of the National Missile Defence (NMD) plan of the Bush administration.

The BJP leadership in the government has been assiduously selling to the Americans the idea that India can be a reliable ally just as Israel in the Middle East and South Korea in East Asia are. The United States has grasped this opportunity to gradually dictate terms after making a slight shift vis-à-vis Pakistan in order to draw India into a new subordinate relationship which will match into its global strategic designs. While India has traditionally been demanding the removal of nuclear weapons from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, today the Vajpayee government seeks to have an association with the US Command in the same island, in the name of protecting the sea-lanes heading towards the oil-rich Gulf region.

This growing military entanglement with the United States reflects other equally serious developments. During the Clinton visit, a joint working group on counter-terrorism was set up. At the meeting of this group in Washington recently, India requested the US for help to set up a centre for counter-terrorism in India --- a request which has been accepted. Alongwith the FBI office in Delhi, this centre would be another US-sponsored security apparatus which would be directly intervening in internal security matters.

Another significant event was Brijesh Mishra’s meeting with the CIA director, George Tenet, in Washington last month. This is the first time a high level official, who is the principal secretary to the prime minister and the national security adviser, had an official meeting with the CIA director. Earlier, the Indian intelligence agencies such as RAW did have contacts with the CIA, but this is the first time that such an open and high level engagement has taken place. The Vajpayee government is thrilled that the United States is now treating it as a close ally.

It is also noteworthy that after the Pakistan foreign minister visited Washington for talks before the Agra summit, Brijesh Mishra followed him for discussions with the higher echelons of the Bush administration. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, stated after the Agra summit that the US is prepared to lend its good offices for an improvement of Indo-Pakistan relations and address difficult issues such as Kashmir and nuclear issues. Christina Rocca, the newly appointed US assistant secretary of state for South Asia and a former CIA operative, visited both Islamabad and Delhi after the Shelton visit. Presumably, she got reports of the outcome of the Agra summit from both sides.

For too long the defence establishment and its strategic policies had been treated as sacred cows. There is hardly any serious public discussion in parliament and its committees. In the name of national interest, the reversal of long-standing policies and entering into alliances which are inimical to the country are being kept under wraps without a proper discussion. The United States, under Bush administration, has now embarked on a new dangerous course. It has called for scrapping of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, it is fashioning a new strategy targetting China and it is openly backing Israel in its quest for denying the Palestinians their elementary rights.

Going against the entire legacy of commitment to an independent and non-aligned foreign policy and active advocacy of the interests of the third world countries, India under the BJP rule is being made to shamelessly become a supplicant ally of the United States.