Terrorism against India too will be fought: Powell

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, OCT. 17. Even as the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, concluded his visit here today, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, will visit Washington next month to hold discussions with the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, on steering the global campaign against terrorism.

Mr. Vajpayee is expected to visit Washington on November 9. He will address the U.N. General Assembly the next day in New York. Mr. Bush's invitation to the Prime Minister had been formalised on Friday, highly-placed Government sources said. Mr. Vajpayee may head for the U.S. from Moscow after concluding his three-day visit to Russia on November 7.

During a day-and-a-half of talks, which hovered around developments in Pakistan, Kashmir and the region, the U.S. reinforced the view that the focus of the on-going international campaign against terrorism should remain fixated on Afghanistan and the Al-Qeida network. Diversionary tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, therefore, had to be kept in check.

India, on its part, saw in the dialogue, an opportunity to reduce terrorist violence in Kashmir and regain its strategic foothold in Afghanistan.

Restraint urged

On Kashmir, Gen. Powell appears to have ``convinced'' Pakistan to desist from provoking India, the sources said. Without referring to the recent incident of firing along the LoC, the U.S. also urged India to exercise restraint.

Gen. Powell advocated the resumption of a dialogue between India and Pakistan. India reiterated that a dialogue could resume only if Islamabad curbed the promotion of terrorism in Kashmir.

Endorsing the comprehensive Indian approach on political extremism, Gen. Powell, at a joint press conference with the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, this morning, deplored ``terrorism wherever it exists, whether it is the kind of terrorism we saw on September 11, or the kind of terrorism we saw on October 1 in Srinagar.''

Retracting from his earlier position on Kashmir, Gen. Powell rephrased the formulation attributed to him - that Kashmir was ``a central'' issue in the India-Pakistani equation. Referring to his Islamabad press conference he said, ``I didn't say `a central.' If you look at it carefully, I said `central' in the sense that I believe it is an important issue, and to suggest it isn't wouldn't have been accurate.'' India appears to have persuaded the U.S. that it needs to reassess the merit of accommodating a ``moderate'' wing of the Taliban in the future government of Afghanistan, the sources said. While the two countries agreed on resurrecting a broadbased, multi-ethnic post- Taliban dispensation, they differed with respect to the details.

India's formulation revolved around accommodating representatives of the Northern Alliance and the former King, Zahir Shah, and additional representation for the Pushtuns. Pakistan is also understood to have persuaded the U.S. to ensure a prominent role for the Pushtuns in a post-Taliban regime.

The U.S., however, expressed discomfort with this arrangement. There is skepticism in Washington that King Zahir Shah and his followers, some of whom are prominent businessmen in Europe, may not be acceptable to fellow Pushtuns. It also has

serious reservations on the Northern Alliance and apprehends that if it takes over Kabul, it may reaccommodate some of the hardcore Taliban elements. That would undermine the very purpose of the anti-terrorist campaign.

The U.S. has acknowledged that as a neighbour who ``lives down the street,''(as distinguished from ``next door neighbour''), India has a role in the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan.

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