The Hindu : Pressure on India to accept international patrolling?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 08, 2002

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Pressure on India to accept international patrolling?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 7. In what is seen as a sign of growing international pressure on India to accept neutral observers to monitor the Line of Control, the British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, has said that Britain is willing to send its troops for the purpose. The issue, he said, had been raised with both India and Pakistan.

But, recognising Indian sensitivities, officials today sought to play down his remarks and a Ministry of Defence spokesman told The Hindu that there was "no specific proposal'' on the table. The idea of international monitors, he said, might have come up as part of a "wider discussion'' on reducing tension in the region. "It may be one of the proposals but the U.K. has no specific proposal.''

Indian diplomatic sources acknowledged moves to get India to accept international observers but reiterated New Delhi's known opposition to any outside intervention.

Mr. Hoon's remarks, after a meeting of the Defence Ministers of the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Brussels on Thursday, came amid reports of a joint U.S.-British plan for a helicopter-borne monitoring force to check cross-border infiltration. The idea was first floated after the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, returned from his recent visit to the region and has been raked up in the media in recent days with commentators saying that they are puzzled over India's objection to an international "verification force,'' considering that it was intended to address its concerns regarding cross-border infiltration.

Mr. Hoon underlined this when he said that the move was meant to find a practical way of assuring both sides, "particularly India, because there have been some infiltrations across the Line of Control and an international monitoring force could be suitable.'' He acknowledged that India was reluctant but, according to The Times, which led with the story this morning, Mr. Hoon "appeared to indicate that the Government in Delhi has not rejected it out of hand.''

It also quoted unnamed defence sources as saying that "what the two sides (India and Pakistan) were saying in private was very different from what they were saying in public.'' The view was echoed by experts on South Asia who suggested that much of the "war-mongering'' on both sides was posturing, with Pakistan using it to "internationalise'' the Kashmir issue, and India making sure that its concerns on cross-border terror are fully recognised by the international community.

The British Foreign Office said it continued to be "concerned'' about the situation in the region but hoped that the tension would ease.

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