Author: HT Correspondent
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: May 23, 2002
It was meant to be a polite good-bye
meeting, but degenerated into a debate on who is to blame for the Indo-Pak
war of nerves. The occasion: departing Pakistani High Commissioner Ashraf
Jehangir Qazi's courtesy call on Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer
on Wednesday afternoon.
Iyer regretted the circumstances
under which the meeting was being held but seized the opportunity to assert
that India's tolerance towards terrorism sponsored by Pakistan had only
encouraged more terrorism.
Pakistan, she said, should realise
that neither the international community nor its own people believed its
Government's denials about promoting terrorism.
She said India took exception to
the Qazi's oft-repeated remark in his media interviews that "India was
deliberately ratcheting up tension". The foreign secretary stressed that
since December 13 - a "watershed" for Indian sentiments - New Delhi had
been taking measured and gradual steps.
The Pakistani envoy, virtually expelled
following the May 14 Kaluchak massacre, argued on his part that the present
dangerous situation was the outcome of India's "policy of coercion and
intimidation instead of a policy of de-escalation and dialogue towards
Pakistan".
Incidentally, the Pak version of
what transpired at the meeting, came in the form of a press release after
the Indian TV channels played up the official Indian account of the so-called
"courtesy call".
Qazi would be leaving India on Saturday
via the Wagah border.
Iyer told her visitor that Pakistan's
current approach based on terrorism and violence was "unacceptable".
She pointed out in this regard to
the several initiatives taken by India to put bilateral relationship on
a path that would lead to peace. She referred to the Structured Dialogue
Process, the Lahore bus trip and the Agra Summit.
Qazi responded by stating that India
should avoid the "propensity to make immediate and unfounded allegations
against Pakistan whenever an incident occurred". He urged the Indian side
to "respond positively to Pakistan's initiatives to de-escalate tension
created by deployment of troops by India.
