J&K terrorism will figure in Jaswant's talks

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 1. The External Affairs and Defence Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, is here for two days of talks with senior functionaries of the Bush administration.

Mr. Singh is meeting the President's National Security Adviser, Ms. Condoleezza Rice, at the White House. He is also due to call on the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr. John Warner. He will meet the Vice-President, Mr. Dick Cheney, the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, and the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, on Tuesday.

As it happened last week with the visit of India's National Security Adviser, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, Mr. Singh is expected to spell out the country's perceptions of international terrorism, its global component and reach and the relevance to India. He will be fully briefed by the principals in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon on the ongoing war on terrorism and the status of coalition-building. While not directly bringing up the subject of Pakistan, Mr. Singh is expected to raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and the role of terrorist groups with the open support of the powers that be in Islamabad.

For instance, one of the things that India has conveyed to the Bush administration is that Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda have direct links to the goings-on in Jammu Kashmir; and that after the U.S. is done with the Al-Qaeda, the focus must shift to the other groups.

The Bush administration has made it known that its list of 27 organisations, entities and individuals that was released last week is not static; and that more could be expected to be added depending on the information flow. The focus right now is on the global-reach ability of the terror networks and not exactly the ones that are more narrowly focussed. In the designation of the White House list of terrorist organisations and individuals, there has been concern expressed in India about prominent exclusions.

Significantly, The Wall Street Journal has said that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mr. George Tenet, complained to Pakistan a year ago of the links between charity groups operating in the country and Osama bin Laden. In fact, Mr. Tenet paid an unpublicised visit to Islamabad in June 2000 to not only make his case but also to disrupt the financial machine of Osama.

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