When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to Washington DC next week his priority number one will be to dispel any doubts of Washington’s commitment to New Delhi in a region where it rivals China and Pakistan — both seen as U.S. foreign policy priorities.

Indian diplomats and White House representative tell us that two leaders will discuss issues ranging from environment to accelerating the completion of a landmark civilian nuclear deal signed last year with Bush administration. It is rather interesting that Mr. Singh will be in Washington a week after President Obama in Beijing pledged to strengthen ties with China.

It is no secret that America views India as a countervailing force against rising China. America encourages India’s increasing involvement in Afghanistan, and calculates that Indian and American interests coincide in seeking to develop pipelines that would draw central Asia’s oil reserves toward the Indian Ocean.

Analysts argue that the current Indo-US relationship is good, but lacks a central defining issue, such as the civilian nuclear deal, that shaped the relationship during the presidency of George Bush.

Singh and Obama will try to regain some of the momentum back- with possibly more Indian involvement in Afghanistan.  India has been critical of the Obama administrations Afghan strategy and claims it’s focus on Pakistan comes at the expense of other regional stakeholders such as India. India and the US have been concerned with China’s engagement in Afghanistan as well.

Indian policy makers viewed the Afghan war a godsend – an opportunity to reverse Pakistan’s increased influence in Afghanistan and more importantly to advance its geopolitical interests in oil-rich central Asia. It was based on these two key fundamentals that India decided to support the US invasion of Afghanistan. India facilitated contact with  Northern Alliance and provided intelligence from ground.

Just like America had showered Pakistan with ‘blessings’, Bush administration also expanded ties with India for being it’s eyes and ears on Afghan soil. This romance developed so rapidly that the US declared its eagerness to assist India in becoming a “world power.”  For the services rendered to the ‘new masters,’ India received a unique status within the world nuclear regulatory regime – despite being a non signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But India has been sensitive to Washington’s perceived growing ties with China and Pakistan. During his presidential campaign, Obama had committed to addressing regional issues including Kashmir.

India has also complained abut Obama administrations’ stance on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on all nations to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). India has refused to sign the CTBT on the grounds that it could imperil the development of India’s “strategic deterrent,” i.e. its nuclear weapons arsenal.

This week Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a joint statement pledging to “promote peace, stability and development” in south Asia. Indian Foreign Ministry fired back: “The Government of India is committed to resolving all outstanding issues with Pakistan through a peaceful bilateral dialogue in accordance with the Simla Agreement. A third country role cannot be envisaged.”

India has been inserting itself in Afghanistan in past years. But India is not completely behind Karzai government either- Hamid Karzai believes a negotiated solution of Afghan problem is possible. He is intent on persuading sections of the Taliban to enter into peace negotiations and ultimately incorporating them into Afghanistan’s government. Indian officials and media commentators have repeatedly declared that there is no such thing as “good Taliban.”  Indians fear that Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan will grow significantly in the event of a rapprochement with elements hitherto associated with the Taliban.

Obama is likely to assure Singh that his country’s interest will be protected in Afghanistan.

Singh needs this assurance specially because General Stanley McChrystal in a confidential report submitted to the US President Barack Obama on August 30 wrote: “Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan, including significant development efforts and financial investment. In addition, the current Afghan government is perceived by Islamabad to be pro-Indian. While Indian activities largely benefit the Afghan people, increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India.”

Needless to say Indians did not fancy McChrystal’s recommendation.

The Indian government has invested more than $1.2 billion since 2001. Mr. Singh will want Obama to ensure that McChrystal’s reports lands in the trash and a guarantee Obama will facilitate India’s regional hegemonic role. From what I hear in Washington DC, it seems Singh will leave happy.

Indians were busy today (Friday) on the Hill to make progress on the civilian nuclear deal. America wants guarantees from New Delhi — that it won’t pass on its nuclear know-how. In other words- India will not proliferate but India refuses to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

During her recent visit to India Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed a deal allowing two US companies, General Electric and Westingouse, to build a pair of new nuclear power reactors at a cost of $10 billion. Before any contracts are signed, the US companies are asking the Indian parliament to pass legislation which would limit the companies’ liability in case of nuclear accidents.

Before this deal goes any further, Indian law needs to be modified to set limits on the liability assessed to American companies involved with any kind of nuclear development. Even in the United States, liability is limited to about $11 billion, whereas the damage caused by accidents at nuclear power plants are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. US companies want similar liability protections, and it remains to be seen whether the Indian parliament will satisfy those requests.

Under current international law, the nuclear industry, or rather, state-owned nuclear enterprises, operate under sovereign limitation. In other words, Russian and French nuclear reactors can protected by the built-in liability insurance provided by their respective governments, since they are publicly owned. However, Westinghouse and General Electric are not accorded this same security, as they are privately owned. In an analogous circumstance, during the US-Russia negotiations over the use of Cold War plutonium, including surplus plutonium from weapons in Russian reactors, the failure to arrive at a liability agreement was the major stumbling block in the execution of the deal.

The Convention on Supplementary Compensation is a UN convention responsible for limited liability, and its aim is essentially to deny fair compensation. Basically, the US wants India to sign and ratify this convention as a precondition of their participation in the deal. This is a topic that has not been the subject of the domestic debate as of yet, because there were bigger barriers the governments of India and the US government had to cross. Now that those obstacles have all but been bulldozed, this issue of liability protection is bound to be quite politically sensitive. The text of the defense agreement has not been made public, and chances are slim that it will be made public in its full form. Nor do we know, as of now, the future locations of the specific reactor sites.

Two 'unembeded journalists' in Sharm-el-Shaikh

The highlight of our week in Sharm-el-Shaikh, Egypt was indeed the meeting between the Indian and Pakistani premiers and, the media hysteria surrounding it. Generally speaking, the classic tit-for-tat between the Pakistani and Indian media, the segregated briefings, and the venomous patriotism was rather comical.

It will be less than honest if I do not state upfront that this experience was not new- I covered Musharaf-Singh meetings in New York in the same frenzy. Actually, last week I saw some glimmer of hope. A journalist from Pakistan, Khalid Hameed Farooqi of Geo and two of our counterparts from India freely shared information, schedule of country specific briefings, footage and most importantly, a passion for freedom of the media.

When Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani arrived at Boran Resort with his delegation and embedded Pakistani media, a few of us were already there. SAMAA, Geo, and two from an Indian TV. We were the only South Asian journalists who were not embedded in their respective government’s delegation and that’s why we had arrived days in advance to cover Non-Aligned Movement.

First the Prime Minister’s limousine pulled in front of the hotel. But after some debate and confusion, they decided to go to the back of the hotel. We of course ran as fast as we could to assume our position before Mr. Gillani entered the hotel. To our surprise a large group of Indian journalists had already staked-out at the back entrance.

From everything that I have read in history, biographies of successful leaders, and theory of effective communication, it was a ‘God send’ opportunity for Mr. Gillani to establish himself as a leader of the region. I understand that the Indian media was unruly, hysterical and trying to provoke him to say something controversial. However, it is in situations like these one demonstrates their innate leadership qualities.

Mr. Gillani, unfortunately, missed this opportunity. He spoke hesitantly, without eloquence or cadence. In fact, his demeanor was that of a politician in training.

In that frenzy I had captured a few minutes of footage that I needed to send to our news desk in Karachi. I went to the media center setup at Baron Resort by the Pakistani embassy in Egypt to park my equipment and upload. Soon I saw Geo and two of his Indian counterparts also enter the room. Indian journalists were asked to leave within minutes. Again it is not new or unilateral. Several times in past I have been stopped from entering Indian media centers in New York and Washington DC.

Based on my experiences in New York and DC I was discouraging Khalid Hameed Farooqi from sharing anything with Indians. I had told him that he was fool for letting them know when Pakistani PM was arriving or the timings of media briefings. When we were subsequently not invited (allowed) in the India media center, I was sure to rub it in his face.

Media briefings and back and forth between Indian and Pakistani media centers continued for the next two days. Not surprisingly, the majority of Indian and Pakistani journalist did not file any story on Non-Aligned Movement. This second largest multi-lateral Summit was a non-event for them. While India had fully participated the entire week, Pakistan was not adequately represented in the first four days of the summit.

Both sides used their media as negotiating tools. A Pakistani journalist (English print media) was fed a story of ‘deadlock’ to adjust Indian diplomatic temperature. It worked… Indians had toned down their rhetoric after this story emerged on the web.

The day when two South Asian Prime Minister’s were to meet was total chaos. We had to go through three separate sets of security clearance – first Hotel security and, than Egyptian security cleared us and finally Indian security. Bunch of Indians and Pakistanis had pretty much taken over the lobby of this five star resort. Pushing and shoving just to get a glimpse — Indians had one question: TERRORISM. It is such an important question but these tactless journalists were throwing very funny one-liners. Like a broken record they would just repeat it over and over again. I wonder if these journalists hide their lack of skills and creativity behind show of patriotism.

After almost three hours of anxiety, when the Indian official brought a written joint statement, a tiniest camera person who was probably 5’ tall and must not have weighed more than 100 lbs, snatched all of it and tried to run. God knows why he did that – but I found it hilarious. What was even more funny that the Indian Secretary who was embarrassed for losing his joint statements wanted to get physical and rough-up this poor fellow.

Well, the joint statement was encouraging for Pakistani journalists who immediately reported to their outlets… it was important that two Prime Minister’s had agreed that terrorism – not each other’s country – is the main threat to each nation, and they will cooperate in fighting it. The joint statement said that “action on terror should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed” and that “terrorism is the main threat to both countries.” In theory, at least, that should allow talks to resume regardless of what’s happening on the ground.

It was a great outcome- when Prime Minister Gillani emerged from the meeting he had another chance to establish himself as a voice of reason, as a representative of a country that wants peace in the region. Indian journalists of course kept throwing single liners: “how are you going to stop terrorism,” “can you guarantee no more terrorism” etc.

Some advice for the Pakistani Prime Minister going forward: Don’t walk and talk at the same time- that puts you in a weak position as if you are running away from media; Respond in loud and clear voice – even if your response is circular; Take few questions- and clearly say: Thank You, No More Questions; Walk away and don’t look back; some simple rules of the road

It was a chaotic event- but the outcome was decent. As per the media collaboration across the border- I am still of two minds. I am not sure if my friend Khalid’s collaboration with Indian journalists will yield result in near future. What do you think? My personal experience tells me otherwise- but I would rather be wrong.