The Hindu : India on the `right track'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 19, 2002

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India on the `right track'

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI SEPT. 18. India is pleased with the statements emanating from the U.S. State Department on the conduct of the first phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir even as officials are keeping their fingers crossed till October 8.

By October 8, the last date of polling, Pakistan's actions would have become clear — and then it would be possible for India to calibrate a possible response on the dialogue front. Highly-placed sources in the Government, asked about negative comments in the British press about the conduct of the elections, immediately pointed to the remarks made by the U.S. State Department officials. ``There will be differing reports. But we are on the right track,'' the sources said.

According to them, the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, told the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, that there was "still time'' for the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to stop interfering in the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir. Clearly, the idea behind Mr. Mishra's comments was for them to be passed on to the Pakistan side. And, if New Delhi finds there is some kind of response from the Pakistani side, then India is not opposed to finding a via media to resume talks with Pakistan. Almost in the same breath, the sources said that dialogue with Pakistan would not be possible till there was a permanent end to cross-border terrorism. But the dialogue route was not completely ruled out, the sources stressed. All this, it was made clear, was "contingent'' on the good behaviour of Pakistan, they maintained.

On the United States and its role in South Asia, the sources expressed satisfaction that Washington continued to press Pakistan for a permanent end to cross-border terrorism. Continuing with the process of Indo-U.S. interaction, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca, will be in New Delhi next week for talks on a wide range of issues. Apart from the elections in Kashmir, the Government of India will be closely watching the "civilian dispensation'' that takes power in Islamabad. As far as the dialogue option is concerned, New Delhi, in its current mood of denouncing the "dictator" across the border, might prefer to deal with an "elected'' Government in Islamabad. Separately, the Foreign Office spokeswoman also welcomed the statements from a number of countries on the conduct of the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokeswoman, responding to statements from Islamabad on the Kashmir elections, accused Pakistan of "using falsehood as an instrument of State policy.''

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