New Delhi, July 30: Will the Manmohan Singh government appoint yet another special envoy on international affairs? As Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon retires this Friday, there is a strong possibility that he could be accommodated in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as a special envoy dealing with India’s troubled neighbourhood.
If this happens, Menon will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Shyam Saran, who is the PM’s special envoy on climate change. Besides Saran, there are two other special envoys. While S.K. Lambah deals with Afghanistan, Chinmay Gharekhan has been handling West Asia and the Middle East peace process.
There is also speculation that the PM may appoint an envoy to deal with nuclear issues, particularly with the US. It is also believed that the PM may appoint an interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir.
The government obviously appears unmindful of criticism that such appointments on foreign policy issues undermine the foreign ministry, which has senior officers to deal with different regions of the world.
The rumour is that Menon will take up the assignment after a month or two. Sources said a room has already been prepared for the outgoing foreign secretary.
Menon’s name has been doing the rounds for various posts. It was initially thought that he would succeed Ronen Sen as India’s envoy to the US. But when Meera Shankar was appointed as the envoy in Washington, there was talk that Menon could be made the National Security Adviser.
This speculation was put to rest when the incumbent was given an extension soon after the UPA returned to power in May.
An old Pakistan hand, Menon was India’s envoy to Sri Lanka and China at critical junctures. His role in drafting the contentious Indo-Pak joint statement in Egypt set tongues wagging about his subservience to the current political authority.
Hours before the prime minister’s intervention in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Menon was made to brief a group of party MPs from both Houses on the technical details of the statement.
Sources said Menon’s likely appointment in yet another foreign policy field has not gone down well with South Block mandarins. India’s foreign policy has always been conducted without special envoys in the past.
Foreign service officers, in There is discontent in South Block fact, question the need for envoys when the prime minister has a National Security Adviser who advises him on major foreign policy issues.
M.K. Narayanan played a key role in the negotiations with the US on the nuclear deal. The Prime Minister is also assisted by other diplomats in the PMO, besides the principal secretary.
Then is the appointment of special envoys a way of rewarding diplomats loyal to the political establishment? Doesn’t it undermine the position of the foreign minister? Does the PMO want to conduct the country’s foreign policy? These are the questions doing the rounds in South Block.
–Agencies