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Delhi confronts US with new evidence

Delhi confronts US with new evidence

Author: Jyoti Malhotra & Pranab Dhal Samanta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 11, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=23686

CIA operative, weightlifter, US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage must clearly be a man of many parts. He probably realised he needed to say something different to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today, exactly 11 months after he'd promised on behalf of Pakistan that cross-border infiltration into India would ''permanently'' cease.

So once he seated himself at Race Course Road, Armitage fished out a poem written by Vajpayee, since translated into English. He then proceeded to read out four lines from Jang nahin hone denge to the select audience. They listened, then smiled politely. The letter from President Bush to Vajpayee condoling the death of his sister had already been delivered.

What next, seemed to be the uppermost thought in many minds. It was a question New Delhi had asked again and again the American leader all day.

They had shown him new evidence to suggest the opposite of what Musharraf had told him a day earlier. It was clear New Delhi was not buying the General's assurance that terror camps, if they existed in PoK, would be gone tomorrow (In Karachi, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri called for ''unconditional'' talks with India, saying that was the only way discussions would be fruitful).

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had started the ball rolling this morning, the twine picked up by Foreign Secretary Sibal and then wound through the afternoon by FM Jaswant Singh and Dy PM L K Advani. What was US going to do about the promise Musharraf made to Washington last year about ending terrorism? What about the camps and launching pads and the funds that sponsored the continuing terror?

''The PM's initiatives were designed to create conditions for Pakistan to respond to us favourably on cross-border terrorism and dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure (across the LoC), and not to substitute this requirement. A dialogue can take place only when a conducive atmosphere is created.'' This was MEA later, briefing newsmen on what New Delhi had to say to Armitage.

In response, Armitage is believed to have taken notes and nodded vigorously. When New Delhi sought to deluge him with terrorist-related information, they got the impression that he was trying to distance himself from his own statements and those of Musharraf from a year ago.

At one point, the real Armitage stood up. He told the Indian leadership that the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, two terrorist outfits banned by the US in the wake of the December 13 attack on Parliament, which already meant that they were a threat to India, indeed had links with the Al-Qaeda. And that meant that they were a ''threat'' to the US as well.

In fact, Armitage went on to add, both these terrorist groups were also a threat not only to Pakistan, but to Musharraf himself. He told New Delhi that he had sensitised Islamabad to this aspect. He implied, sources here admitted, that India could perhaps give some more breathing room to the General to curb terrorism in the wake of PM Vajpayee's ''statesmanlike'' peace initiative to Pakistan.

''It's a fact that Pakistan has arrested 500 terrorists, six of whom intended to harm US interests. This is a great aid in our war against terrorism... It is not my job to give assurances, it is not my job to tell our Indian friends what I think. It is for India to make up her own mind what she thinks about that particular statement.''

While acknowledging the acts of terror in J-K, Armitage restricted its application to atrocities committed against civilians. New Delhi has always included the attacks on combatants as terrorist acts.

''The fact remains that innoncent people - women and children - and non- combatants are being killed (in J-K). One has to call that terrorism. But I leave it to India to speak for themselves. From our perspective, all violence must end,'' Armitage said.

The MEA spokesperson later made it known that Armitage had been told Pakistan was selective in clamping down on terrorism by acting against some terrorist groups. But he said India stil hoped that Islamabad would act soon on its promises.

''There have been proclamations and declarations even before but these have not been translated into reality. We will judge by what Pakistan does, not what it says. But every season is a new season. The PM has extended a hand of friendhip and we hope Pakistan responds by ending cross-border terrorism and dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism.''

And Armitage departed saying he was ''cautiously optimistic'' that the process initiated by the PM would lead to a "step-by-step" resolution of differences between India and Pakistan.
 


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