US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI961

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000961 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2015 
TAGS: PREL, ENRG, PINR, IS, IZ, IN, India-Iraq 
SUBJECT: LOOKING TO REASSERT A MID-EAST ROLE, INDIA 
APPOINTS REGIONAL ENVOY 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 940 
     B. 04 NEW DELHI 8053 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt.  Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary: On February 2, the MEA announced the 
appointment of retired career diplomat Chinmaya Gharekhan as 
Special Envoy for West Asia and the Middle East Peace 
Process.  In creating this position, the GOI signaled its 
hope to raise New Delhi's profile in the Gulf, where India 
has an underdeveloped policy, and hinted at more attention to 
Iraq following interest in the country's recent elections 
(ref A).  India's energy security is a major GOI focus in the 
Gulf, but it may be too big an issue for Gharekhan, who has 
spent much of his diplomatic career in the UN system, and 
faces competition from Energy Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, 
who himself is a former Foreign Service Officer, and has been 
unusually active in projecting India's energy diplomacy. 
Gharekhan's major expertise in the Middle East stems from 
having served as UN Special Coordinator in the Occupied 
Territories.  End Summary. 
 
Wanted: A More Active Middle East Policy 
---------------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) In designating Chinmaya R. Gharekhan Special Envoy 
for West Asia and the Middle East Peace Process, the GOI 
signaled its recognition of the need for a "big picture view" 
of the region, former Ambassador Hamid Ansari of the Observer 
Research Foundation told Poloff.  This is the first time in 
memory, he remarked, that India had appointed such a regional 
envoy, adding that New Delhi felt the need for someone who 
can look at the "larger issues that go beyond individual 
ambassadors."  The GOI announced Gharekhan's appointment less 
than a week after PM Manmohan Singh, in a major address at 
New Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University, asserted that 
India will pursue a "proactive strategy" with the Middle East 
and highlighted the "long-standing tragedy of the Palestinian 
people."  Iraq will also likely be one of the issues in 
Gharekhan's portfolio, Ambassador Ansari predicted, but he 
thought the Envoy's primary function will be to monitor the 
Middle East peace process, "now that it is moving again." 
Having served as UN Special Coordinator for the Occupied 
Territories, Gharekhan was well-qualified to do that, Ansari 
added. 
 
3.  (C) The cool reception Foreign Minister Natwar Singh 
received when he traveled to Egypt in December for 
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's funeral (in large part 
because India decided not to be represented at the head of 
state level) highlighted the disconnect between India's 
professed affinity for the region and the reality of 
underdeveloped relations between New Delhi and Gulf and other 
Arab states (ref B).  "Times of India" Foreign Affairs Editor 
Indrani Bagchi told Poloff on February 4 that the new 
position reflects New Delhi's effort to develop a more 
coherent policy towards the region, and a special envoy will 
flag issues that "could become big, before they do."  Bagchi 
observed that Gharekhan's appointment represents a further 
attempt by the MEA to wrest control of Indian foreign policy 
back from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) following Dixit's 
death.  Under Dixit and NSA Mishra, for instance, relations 
with Iran and Israel were firmly ensconced in the Prime 
Minster's Office.  She added, however, that although 
Gharekhan and Natwar are friends, the envoy will report to 
the PMO. 
4.  (C) The Gharekhan appointment also suggests a desire to 
rationalize Indian policy towards the NEA region.  In a 
Foreign Ministry bureaucracy dominated by regional joint 
secretaries, the Middle East is currently dispersed among 
 
SIPDIS 
three Joint Secretaries -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran (PAI), 
Gulf, and West Asia/North Africa (WANA).  The Gulf portfolio 
is also responsible for the politically sensitive Haj 
account, leaving little time for that official to engage in 
policy innovation. 
 
Iraq in the Envoy's Portfolio? 
------------------------------ 
 
5.  (C) Following the January 30 elections in Iraq, India's 
role and lack of presence there has come under scrutiny in 
New Delhi (ref A).  After his appointment, local media quoted 
Gharekhan as having said that "the Indian government is very 
conscious about taking the close and friendly relations with 
Iraq forward," citing Iraq's exceptional (among Arab 
countries) support for India on Kashmir.  While Ambassador 
Ansari insisted that the peace process will dominate 
Gharekhan's job description, journalist Saeed Naqvi was 
doubtful, dismissing official suggestions to that end as 
"clever leaks," and arguing instead that the Envoy will focus 
on Iraq, beginning with his reaction to the recent elections 
there. 
 
Energy Security 
--------------- 
 
6.  (C) India's overriding interest in the Middle East is 
energy security, with 70 percent of domestic petroleum 
consumption imported from the region and a growing appetite 
for fuel.  Gharekhan as Envoy, however, is not likely to 
pursue this issue as part of his responsibilities, according 
to Bagchi, on the grounds that the issue is too big for the 
MEA.  It may even be too big for Petroleum Minister Mani 
Shankar Aiyar, a former FSO, who has made energy diplomacy a 
major part of his priorities.  Pulling these bureaucratic 
fiefdoms together ultimately will require involvement by the 
Prime Minister himself. 
 
Bio Note: More a UN Man 
----------------------- 
 
7.  (C) A friend of FM Natwar Singh, Gharekhan is a career 
diplomat who has served as India's Permanent Representative 
to the UN in New York (1986-1992) and Geneva (1977-1980).  He 
was MEA Joint Secretary for the Pakistan and UN divisions 
(1980-1983), and an Additional Secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's 
PMO from 1984 to 1986.  After his retirement in 1992, 
Gharekhan was appointed the UN Secretary General's Personal 
Representative to the Security Council, and later as Special 
Coordinator in the Occupied Territories from October 1996 to 
September 1999.  In October 2004, Natwar made Gharekhan part 
of his six-member Policy Advisory Group.  After retirement, 
he also lived for an extended period in Sharon, Connecticut, 
where his daughter was a doctor.  Since returning to Delhi, 
he has been a regular on the retired Ambassador's circuit, 
and has been open and accessible to the Embassy. 
 
Comment 
------- 
8.  (C) As we work to capitalize on the coincidence of our 
shared interests with India in the Middle East, Gharekhan's 
appointment provides another high-level point of interaction 
in the GOI.  We will continue to monitor how the position 
develops as the MEA and PMO jockey for foreign policy 
leadership in the aftermath of NSA Dixit's death.  An early 
indicator should be a regional trip that Gharekhan will 
reportedly take to assess the aftermath of the Iraq 
elections.  In creating Gharekhan's position, New Delhi may 
be bolstering its ability to engage more substantively in 
Iraq, but evidence for such a GOI course change is not yet 
clear. 
 
9.  (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
MULFORD