Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002
Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002 |
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By Amit Baruah
Mr. Vajpayee, who was speaking to the Indian press corps at the end of his visit to New York on Saturday evening, was asked whether the events in Gujarat had not provided an excuse to Gen. Musharraf, to attack India at the U.N. Security Council. There was no connection between the two, he claimed. ``Musharraf ko Bharat ke khilaf bolne ke liye kisi Gujarat ki aavashyakta nahin hai'' (Musharraf doesn't need a Gujarat to attack India), he said, adding that the General had made out that all minorities in India were being targeted. That was not the case. He said the incidents in Gujarat had been criticised and steps were being taken to ensure that such unfortunate incidents did not recur. The Prime Minister, however, was clear that Gen. Musharraf did not need any "provocation'' to attack India. In response to questions on Indo-U.S. relations, Mr. Vajpayee said these were usually seen in the context of the India-U.S.-Pakistan equation. This, he said, was not correct — India's bilateral relations with the U.S. had its own importance. Several decisions to further cooperation between the two countries had been taken, he said. The Prime Minister, however, was concerned that there were delays in the implementation of the decisions that had already been taken and mentioned the hi-tech area as one example where there had been time lags between decisions and their implementation. Referring to his meeting with the U.S. President, George W Bush, the Prime Minister said, ``We felt it was for the first time that he did not reiterate the need for a dialogue with Pakistan.'' Saying that the U.S. accepted India's concerns on cross-border terrorism, he said the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir would improve the environment. Mr. Bush was told that killings were taking place in Kashmir regularly and even election meetings could not be held. The Prime Ministersaid an improvement in the environment after the elections could pave the way for dialogue on Kashmir. In response to a question, Mr. Vajpayee categorically denied that there had been any discussions with Mr. Bush on turning the Line of Control (LoC) into an international border. There was, he said, no question of India agreeing to such a proposal. He reiterated that the international community should not get sidetracked and continue with the war against terrorism — a point he made at a public meeting on Saturday evening as well.
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