WikiLeaks Expose : India to wait & work it out

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security is likely on Tuesday to reflect on the confidential American diplomatic cables that whistleblower website WikiLeaks started leaking on Sunday.

Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and the PM's Principal Secretary TKA Nair are understood to have briefed the Prime Minister that nothing serious has been found in the first 226 India- centric cables put out so far, which could impinge upon India's international relations.

The information contained in these cables, is the kind that the Indian intelligence agencies also gather, it was contended.

Sources also pointed out that there was no surprise in embassy officials trying to gather personal details of important personalities, such as their food habits, work schedules, personal weaknesses, as also their phone numbers, etc.

They, however, pointed out the potential political embarrassment from the cables sent by two senior diplomats of the US embassy in New Delhi, quoting two senior Union ministers and unnamed top bureaucrats.

Assisted by the foreign and home secretaries as well as chiefs of the intelligence and security agencies, they gave a detailed presentation on what has been said on India in the leaked documents.

Notwithstanding the forewarning by US about damages that the leaked classified documents may cause, the feeling in MEA circles is that thus far leaked cables were not anything to worry about.

The first official comment on the WikiLeaks came from Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur who said the government would like to " wait and work this out." The government is concerned about the WikiLeaks because the documents being made public relate to the Congress- led UPA government's tenure of 2006- 10.

Since the US had alerted India about the upcoming leaks, the Prime Minister on Saturday asked two Union ministers to brief the senior diplomats in the Indian missions in six countries on how to handle situation arising out of any sensitive disclosures.

Why CCS? The Prime Minister has preferred to discuss the disclosures in the CCS because it is a compact authority with ministers from the Congress only and none from the coalition allies.

It is somewhat like the Congress core group with the same members, minus Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel.

MoS Preneet Kaur told reporters: " This is a very sensitive issue. We have good bilateral relations (with the US) and they had already warned us.... It is not the right time to comment on it and we want to continue having a good relationship with the US. So, I think let us wait and work this out," Kaur said.

She also maintained that " it is an internal matter for each country and their diplomats... what they want to get and how they deal with it."