'Where Is Mr Gujral?'

IT was in the serene setting of Hyderabad House in New Delhi late last year that I.K. Gujral had pointed out striking similarities in all that was wrong in India and Pakistan. In honour of visiting delegates to a convention there, Gujral was at his 'peacenik' best. "We are simply made for each other," he remarked as we talked about corruption scandals, weak governments and politics of dynasties in the subcontinent.

For too long now, Delhi has accused Islamabad of concentrating all the powers at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Suddenly as the second round of talks were to start in Islamabad, officials here were asking "who do we talk to?" Where was Gujral, they wondered, and why did he make a complete mess of the Prithvi missile deployment issue? Was he really kept in the dark by the military establishment? The view from Islamabad certainly pointed to that. Even foreign minister Gohar Ayub appeared sympathetic towards the Indian premier when Gujral continuously denied the deployment of the Prithvi missiles. "Maybe the deployment was carried out without the knowledge of the Indian prime minister," Ayub told the media.

The euphoria which followed in Pakistan when Gujral took over has fizzled out as he is now portrayed as one of the weakest prime ministers Delhi has ' seen in recent times. Islamabad is buzzing with stories of how the Indian military establishment had suddenly cleared the; cobwebs that 'democracy' has subtly woven around it over the years and that Gujral was not to be trusted.

Nawaz Sharif too had been cut to size by his chief of army staff, Gen. Jehangir; Karamat. When Sharif boasted of having been given a mandate by the people to improve relations with India, Gen. Karamat announced that Siachen would not be demilitarised. So, this time around, were the two sides nearing an agreement? "There is room to believe this, otherwise why would the Indian army chief suddenly announce that Indian troops will not withdraw from the Siachen? Who is in charge in Delhi anyway?" asks an expert on India. If it were the Indian politicians who had nearly scuttled the frrst round of talks, this time the Indian military leadership has left many thinking about who is in charge.