An evolving anti-terror agenda

WITH THE U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, making a significant telephonic call to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the stage is set for a qualitative dialogue between New Delhi and Washington on ways to launch a genuine international drive against terrorism. The Bush administration's strategic priority of having to engage Pakistan about America's planned new war on terrorism should not weigh heavily on India's mind as it seeks a new partnership with Washington. New Delhi's direct stake in the planned international agenda of extinguishing terrorism is in a large measure related to India's Kashmir-centric worries and Pakistan's ability to stoke them in a sustained manner. Yet, it is a plain strategic norm of today's international ethos that the U.S. cannot think of playing a zero-sum game as regards India and Pakistan while seeking the cooperation of both in the fight against globalised terrorism. Now, the Bush administration has certainly characterised Pakistan as a ``friend'' at this stage, but Washington has also let it be known that Islamabad's immediate value is that of a friend and patron of the Taliban which harbours Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the latest terrorist atrocity against America. New Delhi, on the other hand, is being viewed by the U.S. for a qualitatively different reason - India's status as an emerging power. An ongoing trend of a definitive improvement in bilateral ties should catalyse the evolving plans for cooperation between India and the U.S. within a possible multilateral coalition against terrorism. So, the Vajpayee administration will be erring if it were to see these realities entirely through its prism of Pakistan-related concerns.

A secure global environment, free from the devastating vagaries of trans-national terrorism, is certainly in India's long-term interest. For the U.S., too, it will be a travesty of the intended ``crusade'' against all manifest forms of borderless terror if the Bush administration were to completely ignore New Delhi's bleeding wounds of Pakistan-encouraged cross-frontier terrorism. Yet, the moral complexion of the planned collective campaign against a worldwide scourge is quite inimical to the notions of trade-off among the parties able and willing to join this new fight. It is in this sense that the envisioned international campaign cannot easily be bent to suit the contentious political objectives of either Pakistan or India as they seek to team up with the U.S. and others. However, the terroristic pursuit of a separatist objective in Kashmir, by or on behalf of Pakistan, can easily be distinguished from the political goal itself. It is in this context that India will have a point in wanting to enlarge the focus of a multilateral alliance that the U.S. is eager to fashion. New Delhi is obviously keen to ensure that any virtual war cabinet of the world looks beyond the suspected sources of America's troubles.

The contours of a possible coalition are still far from clear. It is debatable whether the United Nations, which does not seem to command the resources to combat terrorism, can indeed bring a task force into being. The U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, has made a significant observation while clarifying that the composition of a coalition is unclear at this juncture. The U.S., in his reckoning, will take into account the sensitivities of Pakistan which is reported to have insisted that neither Israel nor India should be co-opted if America were to expect Islamabad's assistance. He may have confirmed Pakistan's condition in this regard, but it is important that he is confident of an appropriate and necessary decision in due course. So, while New Delhi may still have time to firm up the operational aspects of its participation in a U.S.-inspired alliance against terror, India should do so consistent with its own strategic and political independence, mindful of the fact that it has been a direct victim of terror in Kashmir and also in New York where a large number of Indians are presumed lost.

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