The Hindu : Bring an early end to war: Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 30, 2003

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Bring an early end to war: Sinha

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI MARCH 29. The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, says the military campaign in Iraq has "run into difficulties" and not gone according to American and British plans. Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Sinha said a prolonged war would create its own complications, which would not be in the interest of either the combatants or the rest of the world.

When this correspondent pointed to India's "restrained and pragmatic" position on Iraq, he said that perhaps, the reaction of the rest of the world was along similar lines.

"A Foreign Minister of a very important country told me (before the conflict) that no country was in a position to impede the Americans from going to war... therefore, you will find there is a certain helplessness in the international community... apart from saying that war should not have happened, war should be brought to an end, there is not much that is being done," Mr. Sinha said.

In the given situation countries that were "better placed than" India, or leaders of different groupings of nations, were finding themselves "somewhat lost," Mr. Sinha remarked.

Asked about the killings of 52 civilians in a single attack in Baghdad, he said that India had already expressed its anguish over the war. "We have also expressed our anguish over the civilian casualties... innocent civilians are bound to suffer as a result of war". India was against the war and since it had started, New Delhi had been calling for its early end.

On the Opposition charges that the Government position on Iraq was weak, Mr. Sinha said he did not think that there was any difference between the Opposition and the Government in so far as taking a position was concerned. "It's only in terms of the language in which this disapproval of war has to be expressed..."

Asked about the Nadimarg massacre in Jammu and Kashmir where Pandits were killed by militants, and the Government response, he said this was India's war; "we have to fight it, we have to win it". Even after January 12, 2002, when the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, declared that his country's territory would not be used for terrorist activity, infiltrators had crossed over and a number of terrorist acts had taken place. The fact that not a single infiltrator had been nabbed by Pakistan on the Line of Control showed that its Army was "hand in glove" with the terrorists.

While Islamabad had refused to hand over to New Delhi terrorists and criminals who were Indian nationals, it had shown no hesitation handing over its own citizens to the United States for indulging in terrorism.

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