Indians Accuse Powell of Meddling
Rama Lakshmi - 05.08.2002 15:49
NEW DELHI, July 30 -- Three days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell suggested that India should allow foreign observers to monitor elections in the disputed region of Kashmir, members of Parliament erupted in anger today over what they described as meddling with the workings of the world's largest democracy.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum said Powell's remark was a threat to India's sovereignty. "The nation stood shocked as its integrity was questioned by Powell," charged Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, the opposition Congress party's leader in Parliament.
During a brief stop here Saturday on his way to a Southeast Asian summit in Brunei, Powell told leaders that the decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir was on the international agenda and that the United States was "committed to staying engaged" with both countries. The South Asian rivals have fought two wars over Kashmir and have hundreds of thousands of troops deployed along the cease-fire line dividing the region.
"What the U.S. is trying to do is play a role of a friend whose good offices can be used in order to bring people to the table so that they can deal with the problems that exist between them," he told reporters Saturday.
But when Powell spoke about elections scheduled for October in the portion of Kashmir controlled by India, suggesting the vote could be a first step toward dialogue between the two nations and that having "enough outsiders" monitor the election process could add a level of credibility to the balloting, Indians took umbrage. Within hours of his departure, the Foreign Ministry rejected any outside monitoring.
"We have said very clearly that we don't object to diplomatic or media representatives or visitors in their individual capacities wishing to go to the state, but not to investigate or certify the elections," said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Nirupama Rao. "Whoever obtains a visa for India is free to travel to any part of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, although nongovernmental organizations and other groups which may seek formal status as observers will not be permitted."
On Monday, the governing Bharatiya Janata Party said that Powell's statements "amounted to interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country like India, whose democratic credentials are recognized internationally."
Today Parliament had its say, asserting that India did not need any lessons in democracy from the United States. "We are a flourishing democracy. We don't need to be lectured on how to conduct elections," thundered Raghuvansh Prasad, a lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar.
Critics not only pilloried Powell, but accused Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government of having "lost its backbone," as one lawmaker put it, by allowing the United States to question the status of Kashmir.
Kashmir, whose population is mostly Muslim, is claimed by both India and Pakistan. India contends that the Himalayan region -- formally known as Jammu and Kashmir -- has been an Indian state since India and Pakistan were granted independence from Britain in 1947. Pakistan rejects Indian sovereignty there and supports an Islamic separatist rebellion that began in 1989, after a rigged election sparked an armed revolt.
The last state election in Kashmir, held in 1996, was also marred by intimidation and vote-rigging.
 Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23171-2002Jul30.html
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