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India against including Taliban in interim Govt.
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 5. Even as the various Afghan groups were finalising their interim Government in Bonn, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, reiterated in the Lok Sabha today that India was against a Taliban member - moderate or otherwise - being part of a broadbased government.
Replying to the Congress(I) leader, Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi's query during Question Hour on whether the inclusion of a moderate Taliban leader in the interim Government would be acceptable to India, Mr. Singh said: ``The phrase `moderate Taliban' is an oxymoron and subsequent developments in Bonn have proved India's position that a broadbased government cannot have a Taliban member in it.''
As to whether there was any possibility of fleeing Taliban members entering Jammu & Kashmir, the Minister maintained that the agencies concerned were seized of the matter. When the question was once again raised - this time by Ms. Krishna Bose of the Trinamool Congress - Mr. Singh sought to end this line of query by stating that ``we should not over-estimate or under- estimate'' the situation.
On India's support for the U.S. war on terrorism and apprehensions about the use of Indian military bases, Mr. Singh asserted: ``Our bases are not accessible to any foreign power. India will not enter into a military alliance and will not operate under any flag other than our own or the U.N.''
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