The Hindu : PM's position very secure: Brajesh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 28, 2002

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PM's position very secure: Brajesh

New Delhi Nov. 27. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's position is ``very secure'' and the Government has two years to go till October 2004 elections, his Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, has said.

``No, his position is very secure as far as Prime Ministership is concerned,'' he said in an interview to BBC World's "Hard Talk," to be aired tomorrow. Asked if Mr. Vajpayee's position in the Bharatiya Janata Party was secure, Mr. Mishra said ``in every corner of the country. There is no danger to his position as Prime Minister of the country and we have another two years to go.''

Dismissing the suggestion that the Centre did nothing to stop violence in Gujarat, he said the Government had condemned it and the Prime Minister himself had said it was a blot on the nation. ``We have tried to do everything possible... although the violence was on a large scale in Gujarat, it did not spread to other parts of the country.'' Why was it allowed to happen? ``It was not allowed to happen. It was not the Centre that allowed it to happen.''

On Pakistan, Mr. Mishra said that New Delhi was prepared to restart negotiations if Islamabad showed sincerity and honoured its pledge to end cross-border terrorism. ``We are ready to begin a dialogue with Pakistan tomorrow if it gives up cross-border terrorism.'' However, ``it has done absolutely nothing'' in this regard. Neither had pressure from the U.S. and the U.K. on Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism succeeded. As for a report that Pakistan's Tenth Corps was ordered to block mountain routes used by militants to cross into Kashmir, he said ``infiltration is down, but not thanks to the Pakistani establishment. It's down because we put a lot of pressure.''

Referring to the possibility of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, of attending the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in Pakistan, he said if the ideas put forward in Kathmandu during the SAARC ministerial-level meeting are implemented by December-end, as agreed to, ``we could consider it. But in the absence of any substance to the summit, of course it is very difficult for the Prime Minister to go.''

New Delhi has accused Pakistan of stalling progress on SAPTA and SAFTA and for not giving the most-favoured nation status to India.

India and Pakistan were ``pretty close'' to a war in January, following the attack on Parliament as also in May this year in the wake of the terrorist strike on an Army transit camp in Jammu, Mr. Mishra said and dismissed the suggestion that political or electoral considerations would ever arise in the Prime Minister's mind if it were a question of going to war.

Asked about the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Ashok Singhal's reported remarks that any Prime Minister who acted against Pakistan would sweep the elections, he said though there was no pressure on the Government from any side to go to war, ``emotions were very high'' after the attacks on Parliament and the Army camp. But, there was a vast constituency in India, which was against India going to war with Pakistan and favoured the settling of all differences through negotiations.

Observing that the Pakistani establishment and its armed forces could not have their privileges and perks without a confrontation with India, Mr. Mishra quoted the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, as having said in 1999 that ``even if Kashmir is solved, the relations with India will not be better.''

To a question that India was not seen as a moderate nation outside, he said ``we are moderate'' but would "not succumb to any pressure for holding talks with Pakistan." — PTI

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