New Delhi
6 January 2006
Close on the heels of United States Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's remarks that the past year has been spent on seeking the backing of Russia,
China and India to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council at a time of
Washington's choosing, a US analyst has said that "Israel was a factor" in New Delhi's
decision to vote against Tehran in the September 24 meeting of the International Atomic
Energy Agency board of governors.
"Israel also pressured India not to vote for Iran," Stephen Philip Cohen, senior fellow at
the Brookings Institution, told this newspaper. He also alluded to the opposition from the
US Congress, which is still to approve civilian nuclear energy cooperation with India,
and New Delhi's need to balance its relations with countries in the region to characterise
New Delhi's response to the vote on Iranian nuclear programme.
On demilitarisation in Jammu and Kashmir, Cohen said, "any [Indian] government would
be insane to do that. Why would anybody including terrorists be allowed to to step in to
fill the vacuum?" He observed that confidence building measures alone were not enough
to overcome the "deep distrust" between India and Pakistan.
Observing that a lot depends on India's separation of her civilian and military nuclear
facilities, Cohen said New Delhi ought to "size its military programme". "It is a legitimate
question to ask whether India has a large weapons ambition and what those ambitions
are," he said and wondered, cryptically, "why was the Congress party in a hurry to push
the nuclear deal, was it because of depleting uranium reserves or to overcome a
psychological hurdle?"
On Washington's position on democracy in Pakistan, he said, "I am disappointed with
Bush Administration and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I have not heard
anything [on a democratic Pakistan] from them since she (Rice) made a statement in
Pakistan." The US, he noted, was not doing enough or putting enough pressure on the
Pakistan military to democratise.
Cohen said Leader of Opposition LK Advani's controversial remarks on Jinnah were
"amazing" and "a major step" that could have transformed India-Pakistan relations. "It
was a reinterpretation of Pakistan and of Jinnah. Stating that Pakistan was not an eternal
enemy hurt him politically but he reminded me of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon,
who has changed the situation [in West Asia]," he said.
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