Territorial conflict

The Pakistanis are keen that Vajpayee and Musharraf meet on a one-to-one basis without Indian officialdom constantly watching over them. They first suggested a destination like Goa as the summit venue where the leaders could have some privacy. The Indian Foreign Office was equally determined that it should be kept in the picture at every stage so that an emotional prime minister does not deviate an inch from the official line.

South Block wanted the talks to be held across the table in the constricting confines of Hyderabad House in Delhi. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh meanwhile, made a pitch that his home state Rajasthan be included in the visit. Agra was the compromise choice for the venue, though it does not offer the isolation of a Camp David, which the Pakistanis had in mind. As a concession to Jaswant Singh apart from a stop over at Ajmer, Musharraf may spend a few hours in Jaipur too.

The mandarins of South Block guard their territory so assiduously that the long time joint secretary in charge of Pakistan Vivek Katju, a known hardliner, has deferred his new assignment as ambassador to Myanmar till after the talks.

Nobody’s baby

IT has taken nearly three months for the government to decide on the nodal ministry for the Venkataswami commission, since no ministry wanted to be associated with the Tehelka affair. Logically the line ministry should have been the defence ministry since it figures prominently in the tapes, but the defence ministry refused to get involved. The home ministry pointed out that nobody from its department had been named in the tapes, so it was not in the picture. Eventually, the department of personnel was roped in as the nodal ministry.

George’s bitter pill

LAST year, Sonia Gandhi failed to send a get-well message after Vajpayee’s knee operation and the discourtesy was commented upon. This year Sonia was one of the first to offer good wishes for the PM’s recovery, perhaps because there have been some adjustments in her secretarial staff.

There continues to be speculation over the status of Vincent George, her private secretary. George has been excluded from Sonia’s trip to the USA and S V Pillai, Sonia’s PA, is accompanying her. Pillai, who has been working as a backroom boy in the Congress for the last 17 years, is conscious that to retain his position he must keep a low profile and not misuse his boss’s name. Recently P Madhavan, Priyanka Gandhi’s PA, got into hot water by invoking the party president’s name in a bid to push the candidature of one of Karunakaran’s nominees in the Kerala assembly elections. It later transpired that Sonia had not recommended the man’s name for the party ticket.

Marital accord

IT was Naeem Khan who set the trend of marriage among the bachelor Kashmiri militants a few years back and Shabir Shah followed in his footsteps. Now Javed Mir, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Omer Farooq are all set to emulate their example, which augurs well for peace in the valley since marriage is a compelling reason for a man on the run to settle down.

There is an interesting sociological aspect to the marriages among the militants. Most of the men are from a lower social strata and are school or college drop-outs. Their brides tend to be well educated and well settled professionals. Javed Mir is to marry a public prosecutor and Yasin Malik, a doctor. Shah’s wife is a medico and Naeem Khan’s wife a lecturer in English at Kashmir University.

Secretive shift

PRIME Minister Vajpayee inaugurated the Intelligence Bureau’s new headquarters at Bapu Dham recently, but it was a low key affair which went unreported in the media since the IB likes to keeps a low profile. The move to the new premises means that several government bungalows as well as some suites in the Samrat Hotel will be vacated. Ever since K P Singh took over as director IB, the post of special director IB has been vacant. The three officers next in seniority who belong to the 1967 batch are all posted abroad and are not keen to return to Delhi. Singh is reluctant to appoint his replacement as special director from the relatively junior 1968 batch.

Blame game

EARLY this week, L K Advani was in a jovial mood before the protests in the north east over the Naga peace accord dampened his spirits. At a meet with journalists he recounted a humourous anecdote about former British Prime Minister James Callaghan, which he felt aptly summed up V P Singh’s short tenure as prime minister. Callaghan asked his predecessor in office Harold Wilson for advice before assuming office. Wilson promised he would provide him three chits with suggestions, which were to be opened one at a time during a crisis. The first chit suggested blaming his predecessor for the problem, the second recommended sacking his deputy, the third suggested preparing three similar chits for his successor.

Earlier Columns