War against terrorism includes J&K too: Powell

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT. 22. The impending U.S.-led assault on terrorism would be targeted at terrorist actions anywhere in the world, including Jammu and Kashmir, the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, has said.

In an interview to the BBC, he said the proposed anti-terrorist campaign in the wake of the carnage in New York and Washington on September 11 would be aimed at all terrorist operations that threatened legitimate governments and the right of innocent people to live their lives.

Asked by the interviewer, Mr. Jeremy Paxman of BBC's Newsnight, whether it was a ``war'' against all terrorism including Irish, Kashmiri and Basque terrorism, Gen. Powell said: ``I think that is correct. Any organisation that is interested in terrorist operations to overthrow legitimate governments, democratically elected governments, or governments that represent the will of their people is a threat. We should go after them. This is not new for the United States. We recently designated the Real IRA a terrorist organisation. We have done the same thing with three organisations in Colombia, the FARC, the ELN and recently their para-military, the AUC.''

Gen. Powell, who preferred to call it a campaign rather than a war, said the U.S. had already been in the ``forefront'' of combating terrorism but after the September 11 incidents there was need for a worldwide campaign, ``not just the United States or even just the U.N. but rather everybody coming together.'' What happened on September 11 was an attack on ``democracy'' and ``civilisation'' and the values of the free world, he said.

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