New Delhi
28 October 2007
An independent candidate for Commonwealth Secretary General Dr
Mohan Kaul has accused India's official candidate and High Commissioner to London
Kamalesh Sharma of "breach of trust".
Dr Kaul, who is visiting New Delhi for talks with the Indian leadership, told this
newspaper that he met Mr Kamalesh Sharma in March this year for seeking India's
support only to find Sharma throw his hat into the ring four months later.
Accusing Sharma of negative campaign and questioning Kaul's Indian-ness, the
Srinagar-born scholar and director-general and CEO of Commonwealth Business Council
said that New Delhi must take an independent and objective view of the situation.
"His nomination came as a great shock," Dr Kaul said, suggesting that India must not
suffer for the ambitions of an individual. "The official Indian candidate going around
saying I am not Indian" is avoidable, he protested.
"So what if I am a Person of Indian Origin and hold a British passport, I am as much
Indian as any other," Dr Kaul said over a cup of tea at a New Delhi hotel. He hoped to
meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before leaving India.
"There is no rule that a candidate for the Secretary General's post should be nominated
by any country. The only rule is that it is the Heads of Government of Commonwealth
countries who will decide," he said about his independent status.
The 53-member Commonwealth will decide on its next secretary general at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Uganda next month. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to participate in it.
The foreign minister of Malta, Dr Michael Frendo, is the third candidate for Secretary
General. Dr Frendo is also chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.
Current Secretary General Don McKinnon's term ends in March next year.
Kamalesh Sharma's nomination comes after former United Nations Under Secretary-
General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor and Union Minister
of Finance P Chidambaram unsuccessfully ran for the posts of UN Secretary General and
chairman of the International Monetary Fund's International Monetary and Financial
Committee (IMFC), respectively.
The last time India put up a candidate was in 1985 when former foreign secretary Jagat
Mehta lost to Sir Shridath Ramphal.
Dr Kaul has been associated with the Commonwealth Secretariat for 20 years, including
10 years as director general of the Commonwealth Business Council. He has also had a
four-year stint with the UN before he joined the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Born and brought up in Srinagar, Dr Kaul is an eminent scholar and has been the
youngest Dean of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad before being selected
for the UN and the Commonwealth assignments.
New Delhi has said that Ambassador Sharma is eminently equipped to undertake this
responsibility by virtue of the great interest he has shown in multilateral global affairs
and in both South-South and North-South relations and the experience he has gained in
these areas in the course of his distinguished diplomatic career, as well as the
assignment which he has undertaken on behalf of the UN.
As the first Special Representative of UN Secretary-General to independent East Timor,
Ambassador Sharma was directly engaged in all aspects of nation building and
safeguarding its security and his contribution was widely recognised.
In his current position as a member of the Board of Governors of Commonwealth
Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation since 2004, Ambassador Sharma has
taken very keen interest in the activities and advocacy of the Commonwealth, and guided
the Government in India's close engagement with the Commonwealth during this period.
He has represented India at the meetings of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
in February and November 2005 and led India's delegation at the pre-CHOGM Foreign
Ministers Meeting in Malta.
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