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BJP won't rule out war if terrorist acts continue

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 15. The Bharatiya Janata Party today lashed out at the United States for ``not doing enough'' to contain terrorism emanating from Pakistan and added that ``war cannot be ruled out'' (between India and Pakistan) if terrorist strikes like the one at Jammu yesterday continued.

``America ki kathni aur karni mein pharak aa raha hai (there is a gap between what the United States has said and what it has done)'' BJP spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra said, making perhaps the first direct attack against the United States and virtually charging it with not taking note of Pakistan -based terrorism against India.

The global coalition against terrorism led by the United States had promised to turn its attention to all centres of terrorism, wherever they may be, after dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but that had not happened, the party said. ``It seems that there is one attitude towards terrorism to the west of Pakistan and another towards terrorism to its east,'' Mr. Malhotra charged, suggesting that when it hurt Western interests the U.S. was willing to go after that terrorism, but was ignoring it when it hurt India.

There have been numerous terrorist strikes against India, including the attack on Parliament on December 13, and Pakistan's hand was evident in that ISI agents had been caught here, and yet the United States had pleaded that Pakistan should be given more time to deal with terrorism as it had promised to rid the country of extremist elements. But there was no evidence of that happening.

``We do not think that the U.S. can restrain Pakistan, and if Pakistan is not restrained the Americans may as well forget about their dream of ridding the world of terrorism,'' the party spokesperson said.

Mr. Malhotra's tone and tenor suggested that the party no longer had faith that the U.S. would use its influence on Pakistan to force it to stop exporting terrorism to India. It was also suggested that India had waited long enough, and now some ``kadi karyawahi (strong action)'' was needed. When pressed on what that strong action should be, Mr. Malhotra said that ``war cannot be ruled out.''

After all, India had made a `small request' that `twenty terrorists/ criminals wanted by India and who were being sheltered in Pakistan should be extradited and handed over to us, but Pakistan has refused.'' Mr. Malhotra said that was a test of the credibility of Pakistan's effort to rid its country of extremists, and it had failed. The refusal to act on this list should have alerted the U.S. on Pakistan's real intentions, he said. He said U.S. help in fighting terrorism did not amount to third party intervention.

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