The Hindu : No magic wand to stop terrorism: Kasuri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 03, 2003

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No magic wand to stop terrorism: Kasuri

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 2. The Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, has said that Islamabad has no magic wand — ``Alladin's lamp'', as he put it — to stop cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, but was doing its ``level best'' to control it.

Mr. Kasuri said that those ``fighting'' in Kashmir were not Pakistan's ``slaves'' though he conceded that ``yes, we have an influence on them'', having given them moral and diplomatic support for 50 years. And then, drawing what observers saw as a rather audacious parallel with the Palestinians, he asked: ``Why do you think that those who go to fight tell President Musharraf that they are going to die, or for that matter tell Yasser Arafat that they are going for martyrdom''.

Answering questions on BBC's phone-in Hindi programme, he voiced Pakistan's helplessness in putting a complete stop to crossborder terrorism and pointed out that even the Indian Army, which had a strong presence along the Line of Control, could not check it.

``If some people go endangering their lives, and if the Indian Army which is present in lakhs and is also along the Line of Control cannot stop them... then which Alladin's lamp do we have that we rub it and it all stops,'' he asked describing the terrorists as frustrated people who had ``lost all hope''.

Once Kashmiris were given ``hope'' things could change, but for that to happen it was important for India and Pakistan to start talking. ``Once Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers talk, I have full confidence that violence, hostility and militancy from both sides of the border would come down,'' he said.

Mr. Kasuri insisted that at some stage Kashmiris, on both sides of the border, would have to be ``involved'' in these talks. ``Wisdom demands that when and if India and Pakistan talk, for its success the aspirations of Kashmiris would have to be kept in mind,'' he said but added that at this juncture the important thing was to get the talks going without getting bogged down in detail or aiming at an immediate solution. Indeed, it would be ``extremely foolish'' to talk of a solution at this point because then the two sides were likely to fall back upon their known positions, creating a deadlock.

Mr. Kauri called for a ``sustained'' dialogue, uninterrupted by the ups and downs in the relations between the two countries. ``Presently, the problem is that when we start a dialogue, it goes on only when the relations are good — the moment there is some deterioration in relations, the dialogue breaks down.... whereas it is more important to have a dialogue when the relations are not good,'' he said calling for an ``all-weather'' dialogue.

Mr. Kasuri regretted the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks that it was his last chance to normalise relations with Pakistan, and wondered ``what was going through his mind when he said this''. He said there was ``no last time'' in giving peace a chance, and praised Mr. Vajpayee for his ``statesmanship''.

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