The Hindu : U.S. concerned about infiltration into India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 02, 2002

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U.S. concerned about infiltration into India

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE June 1. Bringing home the new realities of the American public position on South Asia, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Defence, Paul Wolfowitz, said today that Washington's relations with India had entered a ``new era'', but pointedly left out words of praise for the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, from his prepared address. In a speech at the ``Asia Security Conference'', being attended by Defence Ministers and senior officials, Mr. Wolfowitz said that India and Russia were positioned to play ``important and positive roles'' in East Asian security. On the sidelines of the conference, he told reporters that the U.S. remained ``very concerned'' about infiltration from across the Line of Control into India. ``Our relationship with India has also entered a new era. As the world's two largest democracies, India and the United States embrace what we have in common. We look forward to strengthening this relationship, based on the fundamental principles we share, a system of Government that makes us, in Prime Minister's Vajpayee's words, natural allies,'' he said in his speech. Mr. Wolfowitz chose not to read the following sentence from his prepared speech about the Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf: ``No leader has taken greater risks, or faces more daunting challenges from within and without, than President Musharraf.'' He did, however, make a reference to Pakistan in his speech: ``In Pakistan we see a country that has much further to go, but has possibly more at stake in this fight against terrorism than any other.'' Making a warm reference to the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, he said: ``I would like to take special note of the Defence Minister Fernandes' attendance at this conference; not only that he made the effort to come at this time of great crisis indicating, I think, the importance his country attaches to this (Asia Security Conference) initiative.''

Speaking on what he called the ``gathering storm'' of terrorist threats, he said that while New York and Washington may be thousands of miles away, the terrorists had Asia in their sights as well. ``I stand before you — as someone who cares deeply about the future of this region — to tell you in no uncertain terms that this scourge of terrorism threatens us all — all of us. It is a truly global threat, and we must respond forcefully, thoughtfully and decisively,'' he said. ``We will never completely eradicate this threat posed by those who are willing to kill themselves to kill others. But there is much we can do: to pre-empt their actions; to keep them from acquiring the most deadly weapons ever invented; to expose the lies at the heart of their methods; to convince their potential followers that their path is a blind alley leading to defeat and ignominy. Unless we dissipate its energy, the gathering storm of terrorism will unleash its fury on us all,'' he said. Mr. Wolfowitz claimed that winning the war against terrorism would require winning the larger struggle — the battle of ideas. ``This larger war is a struggle against the enemies of tolerance and freedom, against the enemies of modernity and secularism, of pluralism and democracy, and real economic development.'' ``We need to recognise that the terrorists target not only the West, but they also target their fellow Muslims, upon whom they would impose a medieval, intolerant and tyrannical way of life. Those hundreds of millions of Muslims who aspire to freedom and prosperity are, in many cases, on the frontlines of the struggle against terrorism.

We have an obligation to help them — and we have a self-interest to do so,'' the U.S. official said. He saw the Conference as part of many efforts to ``begin creating regional structures and regional institutions that can respond to the unique characteristics of Asia''.

On China, he said countries in the region were prepared to ``welcome a strong Chinese role in a constructive regional order''.

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