Cable quotes Hillary as saying India is a 'self-appointed front runner' for UNSC

Another cable reveals that India was kept out of Afghan meet by Turkey

On his recent visit to India, United States President Barack Obama hoped that the country would become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), but the WikiLeaks has quoted a secret cable in which his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described India and its three partners (Brazil, Germany and Japan) as "self-appointed front runners".

Ms. Clinton also directed her diplomats to seek minute details about their Indian counterparts posted at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Another cable that quotes a top Turkish diplomat states that India was deliberately kept out of the Turkey-sponsored meeting on Afghanistan earlier this year in order to cater to Pakistan's "sensitivities".

Of the estimated quarter million secret U.S. cables and documents released by WikiLeaks, some 3,000 are from the American Embassy here but none has been released so far. Several cables from other U.S. missions also mention India, but very few have been released by newspapers to whom WikiLeaks has apportioned the "Cablegate" tranches.

In a cable UNSC Reform - "positions, attitudes, and divisions among member states" - while terming the G-4 as self-appointed front runners, Ms. Clinton opted for the staid option of describing the alternate grouping by its name - the Uniting for Consensus group (especially Mexico, Italy, and Pakistan) that opposes additional permanent UNSC seats.

The revelation about India being deliberately kept out of the Afghan conference in Turkey was made by senior Turkish diplomat Rauf Engin Soysal to U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns. "He said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours' summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities," said the cable dated February 25. Turkey decided to exclude India despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting the Turkish President for assistance with Pakistan. At that time, India had vigorously protested its exclusion.

In the third cable mentioning India, a top U.S. official briefed the Israeli Intelligence chief in August 2007 on his country's efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan. "Turning to India, Under Secretary Burns noted that U.S.-Indian economic cooperation is growing, and that the USG [the U.S. government] is working effectively to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan," said the State Department cable.