The Hindu : Pak. asked to recall envoy within a week

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 19, 2002

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Pak. asked to recall envoy within a week

By Atul Aneja

The External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, talking to presspersons after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in New Delhi on Saturday. — AFP

NEW DELHI MAY 18. While enhancing its combat readiness, India today asked Pakistan to recall its High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.

The decision was taken during the two-hour meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. The CCS meeting headed by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was held in the backdrop of Tuesday's terrorist attack near Jammu. Prior to it, the Army briefed in its "operations room" the Prime Minister and other CCS members of the situation for about 45 minutes.

According to the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Nirupama Rao, India has "indicated that Mr. Qazi's recall should be completed within a week.'' India's decision seeking Mr. Qazi's return to Pakistan was formally conveyed to Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner, Jalil Abbas Jilani, by Arun Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary on the Pakistan desk in the MEA.

The spokesperson clarified that the decision to seek Mr. Qazi's recall was meant to convey India's "disappointment'' over Pakistan's "continued lack of action'' to counter cross-border terrorism as illustrated by the Jammu attack.

In fact, India saw the Jammu incident as a reflection of Pakistan's sustained support to cross-border infiltrations. Such intrusions by extremists had recently increased and training camps on Pakistani soil and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) had resurfaced, she pointed out.

Analysts here say that by taking the incremental step of seeking Mr. Qazi's recall and keeping its forces on alert India has sent two clear signals.

First, it has sought to convey to the United States that it is prepared to wait for some more time to enable Washington to prevail upon Pakistan so that infiltrations into Jammu and Kashmir decrease.

Government sources here point out that India may be ready to keep the "window'' of the month of June open for the U.S. to achieve this objective.

In case infiltrations decline substantially by then, India and the U.S. may discuss the possibility of gradually thinning down the forces from the Indo-Pak. border. India, till then, is likely to keep its troops on the alert status.

Incidentally, prior to the Jammu attack, a large portion of the deployed armed forces had been brought to the more relaxed "training '' status. But, with the "alert status'' now in place, some armed forces personnel who had gone on leave are likely to be recalled.

Simultaneously, the Army, as part of the second-phase of "operation Parakram", is recalibrating its forces all along the border.

Second, by keeping the "war option'' on hold, India has conveyed its sensitivity to the on-going U.S. campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan. If hostilities break out between India and Pakistan, the war against terrorism could be derailed as it would mean the shifting of the Pakistan forces to the Indian border from the Afghan frontier. That could undermine the Afghan operations as the Pakistani forces are required there to nab the remnants of Al-Qaeda cadre that are fleeing into Pakistan. With the wider ramifications of Indo-Pak. tensions in the backdrop, the Defence Secretary, Yogendra Narain, left tonight for the U.S. for discussions in the Pentagon.

Apart from the Prime Minister, the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, the Government's interlocutor on Kashmir, K.C. Pant, and the three service chiefs participated in the CCS.

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