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Stop cross-border terrorism first: India
By Atul Aneja
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29. India today rejected Pakistan's offer of talks for a phased pull out of troops from the borders and reiterated that tensions between the two sides could ease only after Islamabad curbed cross-border terrorism meaningfully.
Asked to comment on the statement of Pakistan's foreign office today, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Nirupama Rao, said the ``central issue is, what is Pakistan prepared to do meaningfully to address cross-border terrorism, infiltration and action on the list of 20. That is the situation''.
Government sources here said that Pakistan had to ensure that it curbed cross-border terrorism ``irreversibly'' by destroying the entire infrastructure that facilitated infiltration. Pakistan should dismantle the Kashmir cell run by the Inter-Services Intelligence.
In response to a question on the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's observations in Raipur on Monday, the spokesperson said there was no change in India's position on the status of Jammu and Kashmir. Parliament had taken a position that the entire State belonged to India. This included Pakistan- occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas. ``This is a principled approach'', she said, adding Pakistan was ``sitting on territory belonging to India and it had to be reminded about certain home truths''. She, however, clarified that India was not laying any new conditions to improve relations with Pakistan.
Official sources here say that Mr. Vajpayee's observations need to be seen in the context of Pakistan's ``fixation'' on Kashmir as the central issue that is bedeviling relations between the two countries. India, whenever talks begin, would wish to see the revival the ``composite dialogue'' process with Pakistan on eight issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. India, in fact, may be inclined to prioritise discussions on Jammu and Kashmir, provided Islamabad takes meaningful action to counter terrorism. Talks between the two sides on the sidelines of the SAARC summit at Kathmandu, sources say, could not make any headway as Pakistan did not commit itself against terrorism, while advocating the revival of talks.
Keeping up the pressure on Pakistan, the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, is in London to participate in a meeting of the Commonwealth Ad Hoc committee on terrorism. This committee will look at implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1373 that demands that all countries root out terrorism from their soil. India, on its part, wants the international community, under resolution 1373, to focus on Pakistan to ensure that the latter takes meaningful steps to curb terrorism. The committee is also looking at ways to increase intelligence sharing among the member countries. During his stay, Mr. Singh is expected to hold discussions with his British counterpart, Jack Straw.
In response to a question, the spokesperson said she was not aware of any move by India to seek the imposition of sanctions against Pakistan, as part of its on-going ``diplomatic offensive.'' But India, she stressed, was engaged in sensitising the world that it had been compelled to take certain diplomatic measures against Pakistan following the December 13 attack on Parliament House. It was with the objective of presenting its case, that teams of parliamentarians were currently visiting key world capitals across the globe.
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