FOR NOW, MUTED INDIAN REACTION TO PAK END-USE ALLEGATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 001815 SIPDIS E.O. 12958:DECL:08/10/2019 TAGS: PREL PK IN SUBJECT: FOR NOW, MUTED INDIAN REACTION TO PAK END-USE ALLEGATION REF: A) New Delhi 1807, B) State 90269 Classified by Ambassador Timothy Roemer, reason 1.4 (b). ¶1. (SBU) In August 31 editions, nearly all major Indian dailies ran verbatim excerpts of the "New York Times" article alleging Pakistan end-use violations of U.S.-supplied military items, and most carried the story on the front page. Although the short news cycle time prevented Indian op-ed writers from penning visceral pieces for today's editions, the influential daily "The Hindu" foreshadowed a likely "we told you so" editorial reaction theme by noting that the disclosure "validates New Delhi's fears that Islamabad is using U.S. security assistance to beef up its military against India." The end-use story did not rate top billing on India's leading 24-hour network news broadcast, but was covered only after spots on renewed violence in Kashmir, a power-spat within the opposition BJP, and alleged Chinese helicopter incursions into India. However, there are several directions for this story to follow in the days ahead: we are not "out of the woods" yet. ¶2. (SBU) As of mid-afternoon on August 31, we have seen no official statement or reaction regarding the end-use story from either the Prime Minister's office or the Ministry of External Affairs. The only GOI official quoted by local media on the matter was outgoing Naval Chief Suresh Mehta, who stated that the article vindicated India's long-held suspicion and that the GOI would take up the issue with the USG. We will report further significant Indian reaction as appropriate in the coming days. ¶3. (C) Comment: We believe our giving the GOI advance warning of the "New York Times" story helped moderate the GOI's response; thus far, the GOI has kept to our request to limit discussion of the issue to private, diplomatic channels. Despite earlier indications from NSA Narayanan (ref a),we see no sign that this story will affect Home Minister Chidambaram's September 7-10 visit, which MEA reports is on track. That said, we are not out of the woods yet, particularly as the Times story had additional allegations (e.g. P-3 modifications) not addressed in ref b points. We would appreciate the Department's continued efforts to provide us with three strands of information: a) cleared intelligence that we can pass along to the GOI, b) a timeline of events and the items involved, and c) details on the agreement in principle reached with Pakistan and the inspections expected to take place. To the degree that we can share such information with Narayanan this week, we can turn this potential minefield into an opportunity to reinforce trust with the highest levels of the GOI. Additionally, we would strongly recommend that General Jones and Admiral Mullen reach out to NSA Narayanan and call him. Mentioning the meeting with Ambassador Roemer on Saturday night and appreciation for the "close-hold" would be a great talking point. End comment. ROEMER