The Hindu : Let Pak. admit it cannot check infiltration: Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 27, 2002

National

National

Let Pak. admit it cannot check infiltration: Sinha

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Aug. 26. The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, indicated today that India wanted Pakistan to cooperate with New Delhi on the terrorism issue, just as Islamabad was helping to tackle terrorism on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Amplifying a point he had made last week in Kathmandu, Mr. Sinha said at a press conference here that Pakistan should come out and say openly that the terrorist elements crossing the Line of Control (LoC) were beyond its control.

Maintaining that he was not making a public offer of resuming dialogue with Pakistan, he said if Pakistan showed any seriousness in discussing the Indian proposal of joint patrolling, then further discussions — at whatever level — could take place.

However, when asked if this statement amounted to an offer of dialogue with Pakistan, Mr. Sinha claimed he was not making any suggestion for talks with Islamabad. He reiterated India's stand that talks were not possible till cross-border terrorism came to an end.

Mr. Sinha, who will be in Washington on a bilateral visit to the United States on September 9-10, said Pakistan had to come out and say that it was trying to do its best to tackle terrorist elements crossing into Indian territory, but they were beyond its control.

The Minister said if Pakistan's statement on this issue was found to be "credible'' then India could "look'' at it. "After all, he (the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf) is cooperating with the Americans and others as far as terrorism within Pakistan is concerned, or terrorism within Afghanistan is concerned... but there is no such cooperation in evidence here... ''

``Now what will that (cooperation with India) entail? It will entail an honest appraisal of the situation, admission of the facts — a clear indication that despite his (Gen. Musharraf's) best efforts, he is not able to control the problem...'' he said.

India, it would appear, wants "something'' from the General, before moving on to talk substance, say, on possible joint patrolling of the LoC. It appears that India is conveying some "public messages'' to Pakistan about what it should say. Whether or not Pakistan will rise to the Indian bait remains an open question.

Pakistan should admit "failure'', accept that it can't do anything to deal with the problem of terrorism and then India and Pakistan could get down to tackling the problem jointly.

Mr. Sinha, in an opening statement, stressed the importance of India's relations with its neighbours. Referring to his visits, he said: "I am of the view that these visits have enabled us to infuse further strength and substance to our relations with countries in the region based on trust and the principles of mutual equality and sensitivity to each other's concerns, our common commitment to fight terrorism and not to allow the territory of any country to be used against the interests of other countries, non-interference in internal affairs, respect for territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty, and the settlement of outstanding issues.''

Asked whether Indo-U.S. relations were taking a bit of a backseat, Mr. Sinha again stressed on the importance of the bilateral component of the relationship.

He said that during the July visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a number of bilateral issues came up for discussion but unfortunately, "this part'' does not get reflected in media reports. ``India's relations with other countries, including our neighbours, is not hostage to the India-Pakistan relationship,'' Mr. Sinha stressed in the context of his upcoming visit to Washington. While admitting that the "latest situation'' between India and Pakistan would come up for discussion in Washington, the basic purpose of his visit would be to promote bilateral relations. Asked about his assessment of the current level of India-Pakistan tensions, Mr. Sinha said everyone had to come to their own conclusions and referred to the fact that the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, had made his own assessment. The "basic understanding'' about the danger of an immediate conflict between India and Pakistan was flawed, Mr. Sinha said adding that India's mobilisation of troops was "defensive'' — an effort to thwart aggression.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National