WAY back in 1971, when Pakistan's barbaric repression in that country's eastern wing, which is now Bangladesh, had reached unimaginable degree, a large number of foreign dignitaries were visiting India, which was bearing the brunt of the refugees fleeing East Pakistan. Apart from Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union, the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger too was a distinguished visitor those days.

After extensive talks with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh and Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram, Henry Kissinger flew to Pakistan in order to have talks with President Yahya Khan. Then in a surprise move that shook the world, he flew from the Nathiagali airport in Pakistan straight to Beijing for establishing friendly relations with China. No one in India had any inkling of this visit. Kissinger had reposed full confidence in Pakistan for brokering this deal which has proved beneficial to both China and the United States.

Twenty-eight years later, the US President Bill Clinton had so little faith in Pakistan that he not only took his Boeing-747 aircraft called Air Force One to Rawalpindi, but also left daughter Chelsea in Mumbai. He had to use decoy aircraft to fly to Pakistan which had foxed even the Pakistani authorities about the precise aircraft by which President Clinton was flying to Pindi’.

In fact, one such aircraft, a smaller one than the Boeing-747, was actually marked Air Force One (for the Presidential journeys) and even a Clinton look-alike had disembarked from that aircraft at the Rawalpindi aircraft which had fooled even media persons. Only later, in an unmarked aircraft, did President Clinton arrive there. This showed that the United States did not trust Pakistan to provide fool-proof security to its President.

"You never know when an Islamic fundamentalist inspired by Osama Bin Laden fires a stringer missile at the Presidential aircraft", US secret service men might have discussed among themselves and then drawn up this elaborate deception plan in order to ensure that the US President travels to and returns from Pakistan unharmed.

There is still more on this. President Clinton's address to the people of Pakistan over Television and Radio was aired after he had left Pakistan for Muscat for joining his daughter and the real Air Force One aircraft for onward journey to Geneva. It is believed that there was no time available in Pakistan to record the speech. Most probably the speech was recorded in India itself and video and audio tapes were provided to the authorities there. This again demonstrates the distrust of Pakistan by the United States.

There were many not-so-hidden messages that President Clinton gave to Pakistan, one of them was the threat that Pakistan, the unflinching friend of the United States during the Cold War, might lose all support if that country did not return to the path of democracy. President Clinton openly disapproved of the military coup by General Parvez Musharraf, saying, in so many words, that one had to better the performance of a flawed democracy, and not replace it (by military rule).

Most important for the peoples of both India and Pakistan is the fact of the return visit of the United States Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs, Carl Inderfurth, from Islamabad to New Delhi in order to brief the Government of India about the precise discussions that took place between President Bill Clinton and the military ruler of Pakistan, Parvez Musharraf.

One would like to mention in this connection the State visit of the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Evevit to New Delhi from March 31. Turkey is a unique country in many ways, having been the cradle of civilisation in the past and now, after Kemal Atauruk's reforms in the 1920s, it is a modern state. The Army there is forbidden from performing any religious ceremony while the Pakistani Army has to undergo a course in jehad during their training. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remark in a speech during President Clinton's visit to India that this country cannot accept jehad as state policy anywhere, is significant. One might add here that 87 per cent of the Turkish people are Muslims.

Pakistan's military ruler also got a snub from another Muslim head of government, Dr Mahathir of Malaysia, who told the visiting General that he should restore democracy in Pakistan. However, even there, after being asked by media-persons, General Musharraf did not spell out the time-frame for restoration of democracy in the country.