India not out of the Islamic world: Wahid

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 16 The visiting Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, today delivered an important message to Pakistan - that India with "more than 80 million Muslims" - could not be considered "out of the Islamic world".

Addressing a joint press conference with the Pakistani Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Indonesian President took the diplomatic path while dealing with Kashmir and the issue of alleged human rights violations.

In response to a question on Kashmir and India "not implementing" the U.N. resolutions, Mr. Wahid said Indonesia was "taking the position of Pakistan that everything should be discussed (with India)". Negotiations, he stressed, was the main factor in international diplomacy today.

In what appeared to belittle the U.N. resolutions, Mr. Wahid said he was too old to remember "solutions" and their "numbers". It was "too old" for him, the President stated. In his view, Indonesia was "on the side of the Pakistanis without neglecting the Indians".

Coming out in support of negotiations between India and Pakistan, Mr. Wahid stated that not all things could be forced on everybody. Today, he said, India was speaking of negotiations with conditions; who knows what could happen later? Mr. Wahid said he told Gen. Musharraf in Havana recently that he should not be disappointed with such a response.

On Indonesia playing the role of mediator between the two countries, Mr. Wahid said such a request had to come from both sides - not only from Pakistan, but also from India. This issue, he said, had to be dealt with realistically. If there was a request from both sides, Indonesia was prepared to mediate.

Supporting Pakistan's entry into the Asian Regional Forum (ARF), Mr. Wahid said it was not "not clear" whether all Indian Muslims were suffering discrimination when asked about the killing of "80,000 Muslims" in Kashmir.

Referring to the long tradition in India where Muslims were in Government, Mr. Wahid took the names of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. Zakir Hussain and currently those of persons like Mr. Waheeduddin Khan and Mr. Asghar Ali Engineer.

The Indonesian President said if there was discrimination against Muslims in India, Jakarta would take it up with New Delhi. But, he said, it was not clear that this was happening.

Maintaining that this did not mean he did not care for people's suffering, Mr. Wahid told the questioner: "If several thousand people, as you say, have something done to them, then we have to say there is no smoke without fire. I would like to examine not only the smoke, but also the fire."

While he did not explain his definition of the "smoke and the fire", Mr. Wahid was, clearly, referring to the conditions behind the trouble in Indian Kashmir and, possibly, referring to the role of Pakistan in the situation there.

Charting his own course on India-Pakistan relations, the President was, however, more supportive of Gen. Musharraf and his military regime. Mr. Wahid said there were good and bad people in both the Army and civilian institutions. Democracy, he said, was not only about who rules - but about the eradication of corruption and the rule of law, among other things.

Interestingly, while there was a joint press conference, no joint statement was issued. Both Mr. Wahid and Gen. Musharraf made reference to the need to enhance economic cooperation, but no concrete announcements were made. Mr. Wahid did, however, say that his Commerce Minister would shortly visit Pakistan to work out details of specific cooperation between Jakarta and Islamabad. The President also referred to Indonesia making military purchases from Pakistan.

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