T.N. Kaul, diplomat for India, dies

NEW DELHI - T.N. Kaul, former diplomat and a key architect of India's peace agreements with China, Pakistan and the former Soviet Union, died in northern India yesterday. He was 82.

Mr. Kaul, who is survived by a son and a daughter, collapsed in his cottage in Himachal Pradesh and was taken to a hospital, where he died, the United News of India reported. The news agency gave no details of the illness that caused his death.

A member of the Indian Civil Service, Mr. Kaul helped mold India's foreign policy in the immediate aftermath of independence from British colonial rule in 1947. He co-authored the Panchsheel Agreement between India and China in the 1950s, preparing the groundwork for friendship between the world's two most populous nations.

In 1972, Mr. Kaul assisted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in formulating the Simla Agreement with neighboring Pakistan in which both countries agreed to resolve their disputes through bilateral dialogue.

He also helped prepare the Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty and was involved in peace initiatives with Vietnam.

Mr. Kaul served as India's ambassador to Moscow twice and also as ambassador to the United States.