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Hope for peace and Clinton land in Delhi

George Iype in New Delhi

Loaded with the great hopes of easing tensions between India and Pakistan and rekindling a new Indo American relationship, United States President Bill Clinton descended on Delhi on Sunday night.

Accompanied by daughter Chelsea, mother-in-law Dorothy Rodham and an entourage of top US officials, he was received at Palam airport by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, his minister of state Ajit Panja and Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh.

From there Clinton was escorted in a cavalcade to the Maurya Sheraton hotel, where he will stay for the next three nights. There, American Ambassador Richard Celeste hosted a dinner for the president.

On Monday morning, Clinton will fly to Dhaka for a day-long visit. He will be the first American president ever to visit Bangladesh.

Clinton's official engagement in India begins only on Tuesday morning with an official guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan. In the next five days, Clinton and his 2,000-strong delegation will fly to four cities -- Agra, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bombay.

This will be the president's second longest journey abroad after his historic nine-day visit to China.

Clinton's first South Asia trip also marks the first presidential journey to India in 22 years and the first to Pakistan since 1969. Many believe his first-ever journey to the South Asian region which he recently described as "the most dangerous place on earth" will be a serious attempt to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan.

With this in mind, Clinton has brought with him a high-profile official delegation that will carry out extensive strategic and political dialogue with Indian and Pakistani leaders. The team includes Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, his Chief of Staff John Podesta, Representatives Gary Ackerman, Nita Lowey, Jim McDermott, Frank Pallone, Jim Greenwood, Edward Royce, Sheila Jackson Lee and Janice Schakowsky.

Other key officials who form part of the delegation are Clinton's Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey, Commerce Secretary William Daley, Press Secretary Joseph Lockhart, Deputy US Trade Representative Susan Esserman and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl F Inderfurth.

Deputy National Security Adviser James Steinberg, Senior Military Adviser to the Secretary of State Lieutenant General Donald Kerrck, Chief of Staff to Aid Administrator Barbara Ann Rudolph, Special Assistant and Senior Rector for Near East and South Asia Bruce Riedel and Senior Trade Adviser (department of agriculture) Islam Diqui are also accompanying the president.

The most significant part of Clinton's visit for India will be his one-to-one with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday morning. Indian officials said the face-to-face will set the tone for the delegation-level US-India talks.

Hyderabad House in New Delhi will be the venue for the Vajpayee-Clinton meeting and the signing of agreements.

Other Indian leaders that Clinton will meet are his counterpart K R Narayanan, Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani and Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi.

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh will lead discussions with his counterpart, Albright and Talbot on March 21 and 22.

Indo-US watchers point out that the key purposes of the Clinton tour will be: rebuild the Indo-US relationship damaged during the Cold War, persuade India and Pakistan to join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and indirectly force India and Pakistan to engage in more fruitful talks to end the conflict in Kashmir.

Clinton set the tone for the visit in Washington by stating: "I want to do what I can to reduce tensions on the Indian subcontinent, to reduce the likelihood of weapons proliferation and the likelihood of conflict."

THE CLINTON VISIT
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