Front Page
Give Musharraf a chance, says Bush
By Sridhar Krishnaswami
WASHINGTON, JAN. 1. The United States President, Mr. George W Bush, has once again praised his Pakistan counterpart, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for cracking down hard on terrorist outfits. ``Terror is terror and the fact that the Pakistan President is after terrorists is a good sign,'' Mr. Bush told reporters in Crawford, Texas, on Monday.
The President was asked if he believed that tensions between India and Pakistan were easing now that Islamabad had arrested the leader of a militant group and whether he would urge the Indian and Pakistan leadership to meet next week.
Mr. Bush said tensions between India and Pakistan were easing and he had a ``good talk'' with both the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf a couple of days ago. ``I urged President Musharraf to do everything he could to crack down on the terrorist network that had bombed the Indian Parliament, or raided the Indian Parliament,'' he said.
``In my conversation with the Prime Minister (of India), I said I can understand how he feels - if someone attacked the U.S. Capitol, I'd feel angry too... I explained to the Indian Prime Minister that while I understood his anger, I was hoping that they were not headed for war. I said, give us all a chance to work with President Musharraf to bring the terrorists to justice. And today... he apprehended the head of what they call the LeT. That's after he had apprehended the head of the JeM. So he's cracking down hard and I appreciate his efforts,'' Mr. Bush remarked. The Bush administration has been keeping a watchful eye on the goings on in the Indian sub-continent, urging India and Pakistan not to allow rhetorics and rising tensions to get out of hand. And Mr. Bush, in pressuring the Pakistani leader to come down hard on terrorist groups harming India, has pointedly told New Delhi that it would have to take note of the efforts of Gen. Musharraf.
Senior officials like the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, have been on the telephone with leaders of India and Pakistan as also with other world leaders discussing the situation in South Asia. According to a State Department spokesman, Gen. Powell had spoken with Gen. Musharraf four times since last Friday and twice with the Indian External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh. Last week the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, had a conversation with his Indian counterpart, Mr. George Fernandes, the Pentagon said.
The U.S. is worried about the situation in the sub- continent for at least two reasons. First, a genuine concern that things will get out of hand leading to frightening consequences for both India and Pakistan. Second, a well-founded apprehension that rising tensions would result in Pakistan stepping away from its commitments on the Pakistan-Afghan border.
In spite of what is said by officials in Islamabad, reports have it that Pakistani regulars patrolling the border with Afghanistan are being withdrawn and replaced with paramilitary troops, a development that is not looked on favourably here.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
