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Match gestures with actions, India tells Pakistan
By C. Raja Mohan
KATHMANDU, JAN. 5. In a political spectacle at the opening session of a summit of the South Asian leaders here today, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, sought a renewed engagement with India, but the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, insisted that Pakistan first end its support to cross-border terrorism.
While welcoming Gen. Musharraf's offer of friendship, Mr. Vajpayee demanded that the General follow his gestures by stopping ``any activity'' in Pakistan and the occupied part of Kashmir ``which enables terrorists to perpetrate mindless violence in India''.
In responding bluntly to Gen. Musharraf at the opening session of the summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) India was not shutting the door on a dialogue with Pakistan. It was only laying down unambiguous terms for it.
Official sources here say that Mr. Vajpayee's remark might offer Gen. Musharraf some space for manoeuvre and might show the direction of action needed to control cross-border terrorism.
Mr. Vajpayee's remarks came after Gen. Musharraf declared at the end of his speech that he was ready to extend ``his genuine and sincere hand of friendship'' to India. In a dramatic gesture after his speech, Gen. Musharraf walked up to Mr. Vajpayee and shook hands with him.
At the end of his own speech, Mr. Vajpayee responded to Gen. Musharraf by recalling his earlier efforts at making peace with Pakistan. Mr. Vajpayee said his journey to Lahore was ``rewarded with aggression in Kargil and the hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu.''
Mr. Vajpayee went on to say, his invitation to Gen. Musharraf to visit Agra was followed by attacks on the Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir and the Parliament House in New Delhi.
Amid the continuing exploration of the diplomatic space for resuming political contact and high-level dialogue with Pakistan, India today was looking for some positive political signals from Gen. Musharraf _ in particular a forthright condemnation of terrorism.
Gen. Musharraf did indeed say that Pakistan ``abhors violence'' and ``we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations''. But the positive aspect of his formulation was spiked with the assertion that ``it is equally important a distinction is maintained between acts of legitimate resistance and freedom struggles, on the other hand, acts of terrorism, on the other.''
The less than conciliatory tone of Gen. Musharraf's speech might have been aimed at his own domestic audiences; but it was not going to be received well by India.
Besides trying to delink the Kashmir question from that of Pakistan's support to terrorism, Gen. Musharraf indirectly blamed India for delaying the SAARC summit, demanded that the forum go beyond its charter to deal with contentious bilateral issues such as Kashmir, and signalled his reluctance to support the proposal for a rapid movement towards a free trade area in the region.
Gen. Musharraf appeared to bring in a vision for the subcontinent that appeared to be radically different from that of Mr. Vajpayee who urged ``not to let political obsessions cloud'' the hopes for peace and prosperity in the region.
Not a snub: Jaswant
India, however, sought to downplay the blunt response of Mr. Vajpayee to Gen. Musharraf's gamesmanship at the SAARC summit in the forenoon. The External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, told reporters that Mr. Vajpayee's remarks were not meant as a snub to Pakistan.
Mr. Singh interpreted Mr. Vajpayee's comments as a simple proposition _ ``Pakistan's gestures of friendship must be followed by acts of friendship''. ``Indo-Pak. relations are not exercises in public relations'', he remarked.
Outlining India's terms for a dialogue with Pakistan, Mr. Singh said Islamabad could not use support to terrorism as a ``pre-dialogue mechanism''. Pakistan must remove the ``gun pointed at the temple'' of India, before talks could begin, Mr. Singh declared.
Reiterating that the moves by Pakistan were ``a step in the right direction,'' Mr. Singh said India wanted to see more steps. On what specific actions from the General would convince India of Pakistani sincerity on ending support to cross-border terrorism, Mr. Singh suggested Islamabad was fully aware of what New Delhi wanted.
As the world waited to see moves by India and Pakistan to de-escalate the current military confrontation between them, Mr. Singh said he had no plans ``as yet'' of meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Abdul Sattar.
Denying speculation this evening of on-going talks between the two Foreign Ministers, a spokeswoman of the Foreign Office said, ``there has been no separate, substantive talks'' between Mr. Singh and Mr. Sattar. But there are indications that diplomatic efforts are underway to bridge differences on the requirements for the initiation of a formal bilateral dialogue.
UNI reports:
Mr. Vajpayee tonight attended a banquet for visiting SAARC leaders hosted by his Nepali counterpart, Sher Bahadur Deuba, in which Gen. Musharraf was also present.
Conventions signed
The SAARC signed two important conventions which seek to prevent trafficking of women and children for prostitution and the use of child labour in the region. The two conventions were signed by Mr. Singh and the Foreign Ministers of the other six SAARC members in the presence of the leaders at the inaugural ceremony.
Leaders of the seven SAARC countries tonight approved the `Kathmandu declaration', to be signed by them tomorrow, which calls upon the member-states to take speedy measures to ``suppress the financing of terrorists, eliminate supply of weapons to terrorists, halt cynical abuse of refuge and asylum status, and enact domestic legislations to deal with the extensive international terrorist networks''.
Gen. Musharraf offered to host the 12th SAARC summit in Pakistan. At the inaugural session, he said the summit should be held even if a member-country did not participate. According to the SAARC charter, attendance of all the heads of member-countries is necessary to hold the summit.
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