The Hindu : Infiltration is still on: PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 24, 2002

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Infiltration is still on: PM

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington JUNE 23. The Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, has said that there has been no change in Pakistan's policy as far as cross-border terrorism is concerned."Every day we are getting reports that infiltration (by militants into Kashmir) continues unabated,'' Mr. Vajpayee has said in an interview to the American news magazine Newsweek. In the interview, which has appeared in the latest issue of the magazine, the Prime Minister made the point that while New Delhi was prepared to deal with the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, it was cautious; and that a new beginning with Pakistan could be made if Islamabad implemented all the assurances.

"We are prepared to deal with him (Gen. Musharraf) as he is, but we are cautious this time. Our past experience is not very encouraging'', Mr. Vajpayee said. Asked if it was just a "pause'' between crises, he said, "If Pakistan implements all the assurances given to us, then a new beginning can be made''.

`Osama is alive'

Mr. Vajpayee said the leadership of the Al-Qaeda "may be'' in Pakistan. Osama bin Laden was alive and Islamabad knew where he was. "Not every movement, but broadly speaking, they (Pakistanis) know where the rest of the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are.''

(According to a PTI report, asked what should be the role of the U.S. in the future on the Kashmir issue, Mr. Vajpayee told Newsweek, ``that of a facilitator''. On whether the U.S. emerged as a third party to help in settling the issue, he emphatically said ``no'' and added ``that is why I said facilitator not a mediator.'')

The magazine carried an interview with Gen. Musharraf in the same issue, in which he denied giving an "assurance" to the United States of permanently ending cross-border terrorism. At a time when the U.S. is talking about permanently ending infiltration across the Line of Control, the Pakistan President made the point that his "assurance'' was linked to a response from India on a discussion about Kashmir. "I've told President Bush nothing is happening across the Line of Control. This is the assurance I've given. I'm not going to give you an assurance that for years, nothing will happen. We have to have a response from India, a discussion about Kashmir.''

"If you want a guarantee of peace in this region, there are three ways: 1. Denuclearise South Asia; 2. Ensure a conventional deterrence so that war never takes place in the sub-continent; 3. Find a solution to the Kashmir problem'', Gen. Musharraf said. He maintained that during the recent visit of the Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, there was no discussion on dismantling training camps in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. "No, we didn't talk about it'', the General said.

"First of all, I don't call it cross-border terrorism. There is a freedom struggle going on in Kashmir. What I said is that there is no movement across the Line of Control'', the Pakistani leader responded when asked whether he told Mr. Armitage that cross-border terrorism would be stopped and training camps would be shut down.

He said that if the Indian army had opted for surgical strikes against terrorist camps in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, Pakistan would have responded. "We would have taught them a lesson. This is not a small country; this is not Afghanistan.'' Gen. Musharraf also ruled out accepting the LoC as a border. "This is just not possible. If the Line of Control is to be the border, what have we fought these two wars for, 1965 and 1971?'' he remarked. Asked who attacked the American Consulate in Karachi, he said one possibility was the Al- Qaeda, but then the other could be the Indian intelligence agency, RAW.

"RAW does a lot of anti-Pakistan activity within Pakistan. So many bomb blasts have been taking place. Who is brewing this? Obviously they are RAW-inspired. They (Indians) don't like us getting close to the U.S. They thought that after September 11, Pakistan would be declared a terrorist state.'' Responding to Mr. Vajpayee's statement that Pakistan knew where the rest of the Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were, Gen. Musharraf said, "That is how they keep maligning us. If they (militants) are hiding somewhere, we are trying to locate them...Whether Al-Qaeda is within our borders or in the tribal areas or in the cities, we will not allow it here,'' he said.

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