Manmohan Singh is giving a miss to two events in the Asian region this week - the SCO summit and CICA meeting on Saturday. A DNA Analysis
A DNA Analysis
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is giving a miss to two important events in the Asian region this week. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Thursday and the meeting in Almaty of the conference on interactions and confidence building measurers in Asia (CICA) on Saturday.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, members of the SCO are all meeting in Shanghai. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejan, Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf are attending as observers. Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai will be there as a special invitee. Yet India, an important regional power in Asia, has decided on sending just a cabinet minister.
Considering that SCO is a primarily concerned with Asian security, at least defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, could have attended. Instead petroleum minister Murli Deora will lead the Indian delegation. India justifies Deora leading the delegation on the grounds that the SCO is also focused on energy.
India had fought hard to gain observer status to the Shanghai Group. China had delayed India’s entry and finally through Russia’s intervention India was included as observer last year. But Beijing insisted that Pakistan should also be accommodated. Asked why the Prime Minister will not attend this meet of Asian leaders, Indian officials say, “It’s not necessary for the Prime Minister to attend a meet when India just has observer status. Last year, too, it was Natwar Singh the foreign minister who led the Indian delegation.’
“The Shanghai Cooperation Group is Russia and China’s baby. The American are suspicious of it and considering that India is pushing to be a full member of SCO, the Prime Minister should have naturally attended,’’ says Anuradha Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University. India had a forward policy in Central Asia, it has a base in Tazikistan, oil interest in Kazakhstan and should be pushing for greater interaction with these countries, says Chenoy.
However, with the Americans not in favour of the SCO, India would like to go slow, especially at a time when the US Congress is slated to vote on the crucial Indo-US nuclear deal, which has become the main focus of New Delhi at the moment.
But experts ask if it is worth neglecting the Asian region to go along with US interests. Though the Prime Minister is also skipping the central Asian CICA grouping, that formation is not as important as the SCO.
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