Author: PTI
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: May 28, 2002
India on Tuesday termed as "disappointing
and dangerous" Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's address and said it
contained only repetition of some earlier unfulfilled assurances to curtail
cross-border terrorism.
Musharraf's televised address last
night was "disappointing because it contained merely repetition of some
earlier assurances which remained unfulfilled," External Affairs Minister
Jaswant Singh told a press conference here.
It was "dangerous, it involved belligerent
posturing" which have led to "tensions being raised and not reduced," he
said. Singh said Pakistan has not taken any step to stop "the lethal export
of terrorism" from its soil.
"Mere verbal denials" about stoppage
of cross-border terrorism were untenable as the situation on the ground
was quite different, he said.
Saying the "epicentre of terrorism
was in Pakistan", the External Affairs Minister said the terrorists targeting
India and other countries "have received support from the state structure
of Pakistan".
The current war against terrorism
will not be won decisively unless the base camps in Pakistan were closed
permanently, Singh said.
He said India will take all such
measures that are necessary.
Singh charged Pakistan with holding
threats of nuclear weapons and terrorism simultaneously and asked the international
community to take note of it.
"General Musharraf and many ministers
of his Cabinet are talking casually about nuclear weapons... About nuclearisation
of terrorism," he said.
Asserting that India continued to
follow the policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, Singh said, "We are
not talking of it." Singh said Musharraf should act upon his international
commitments to control terrorism.
"His commitment is not only to India
but these are international commitments," the minister said. His commitments
are not essentially born out of UN resolution but make it incumbent on
Pakistan to abjure violence, stop infiltration of terrorists, dismantle
terrorist camps and stop using terrorism as an instrument of state policy,
Singh said. Asked how much time India was ready to give to Musharraf to
fulfil these commitments including handing over of 20 terrorists and criminals,
he said, "It will be difficult to specify time as sufficient time has elapsed"
already in this regard. "The terrorists are taking shelter in Pakistan,"
Singh added.
He dismissed a question that due
to recent developments, the Kashmir issue had become trilateral. Singh
said India could not be "continued to be penalised for its patience" as
every time it was attacked by terrorists, the world community told New
Delhi to exercise restraint while assuring that Pakistan would take steps.
The minister said "let me share
the concern India has. On October 1, 2001 the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
was attacked. We were advised that Pakistan would take action to stop cross-border
terrorism, so India should exercise restraint. "Then came December 13 when
Parliament was attacked. We were again told that we should exercise restraint,"
he said. Referring to the January 12 speech of Musharraf, Singh said certain
terrorist camps were shut down and several terrorists were arrested.
"These camps have come up again.
You know how many of the arrested persons have been released. Take the
case of Azhar Masood, he lives in his bungalow and is paid Rs 10,000 every
month," the minister said. Then came the Kaluchak attack, he said adding
Pakistan had not lived up to its promises. Singh said India was not "greatly
impressed" with Pakistan's missile "antics". "They (missiles) are either
imported technology or imported hardware," he said.
Condemning Musharraf's remarks on
Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone's assassination, Singh charged the Pakistani
ruler with trying to give political colour to a "heinous crime".
Musharraf had rejected allegations
that Pakistan's ISI was responsible for the killing in Kashmir last week
and said Islamabad wanted to know how the killers could vanish in thin
air in the presence of thousands of troops and people. Asked whether it
would be easier for India to deal with a democratically elected leader
in Pakistan and not a military ruler, Singh said, "We have to deal with
the world as it is and not as it ought to be. So I deal with Pakistan as
it is." He said it was for the people of Pakistan to decide their leadership.
Singh refused to comment on the
mandate secured by Musharraf at a recent referendum saying it was an internal
matter of Pakistan.
However, the minister said, "We
have always stood for democracy. We will be happy if democracy returns
to Pakistan." To a question, Singh said the pressure applied by US and
UK on Pakistan was not working.
"It is not to my subjective satisfaction...
What results we see on the ground was important. Today there was a third
missile test. Yesterday's Musharraf's speech and there are all other kinds
of activities by Pakistan,"he said.
"It is really for US and UK to assess
for themselves as to whether their pressure is working because this was
their stated objective to fight against terrorism. There should not be
any deviation. It is for UK and US to consider," he said.
Asked whether Home Minister LK Advani's
statement that India has to adopt "another strategy" to counter Pakistan's
proxy war means India will have to go in for war, Singh said the essence
of what the Home Minister said was that if a particular medicine was not
working then try another.
To a question, Singh said suggestions
that Musharraf was not having enough control over terrorist activities
were "intriguing".
"You cannot have 98 per cent support
of people of Pakistan, as I am informed he had got in the referendum, and
simultaneously claim that you don't have knowledge of what is happening
in Pakistan," he said.
Musharraf has "time after time"
said that he was in full control of affairs and there was "unity of command",
he said, adding his allies are also saying that he is "fully in control".
"These are simultaneously contradictory
assertions... You cannot have it both ways," Singh said. When told that
Pakistan has handed over wanted terrorist to China recently and why can't
India give some more time to Pakistan, Singh said, "Pakistan has handed
over to United States criminals wanted by USA. It has also handed over
to china criminals wanted by the latter."
But when it came to India's demand
for handing over of terrorists wanted in India "the facts speak for themselves",
the minister said.
Asked why India could not start
the dialogue process with Pakistan, Singh said: "India had never been against
starting the dialogue. But for that you have to create an atmosphere conducive
for it."
"You cannot put the terrorist pistol
to the head and say have a dialogue otherwise I will pull the trigger of
terrorism," he added. India had been subjected to a proxy war on its land
and against its civilian population for two decades, Singh said. "We have
been facing war for two decades," he said when asked as to how long India
was prepared to wait.
Singh said that after September
11 terrorist strike in the US, President Bush had said that war has been
declared and that threat of terrorism had redefined the conflict from the
traditional and conventional sense of war.
Singh said India would reciprocate
if it was evident that Pakistan has taken steps to stop infiltration and
close the terrorist camps.
"I do not want to comment on hypothetical
situation but if it is evident that infiltration is stopped and they have
wound up the terrorist camps, not temporarily, but wound up... If the action
which could be seen on the ground. India will reciprocate," he said.
Asked whether India was considering
carrying out strikes in Pakistan, Singh said there were "assumptions" about
it and he did not want to "go into theoretical discussions on such assumptions".
He said the presence of US troops in Pakistan was a "factor" being considered
but "not an inhibiting factor" in the framing of policy decisions.
Asked whether India would continue
to wait for Musharraf's speeches or do something concrete, Singh said,
"Concrete action is being taken."
Asked why the Prime Minister had
said that India should have struck immediately after the December 13 attack
on Parliament, Singh said, "The Prime Minister had never said that. He
said it would have been better if we had acted after December 13. But the
international community came to us and requested that we should exercise
restraint."
Examining the pros and cons, India
had exercised restraint, the minister said.
Asked how long would India exercise
restraint, the minister said, "As I have said India cannot be continued
to be punished for exercising restraint."
To a question what were the concrete
steps planned by India, Singh said: "It is not possible for me to share
either the concrete steps India is likely to take or the time table of
the concrete steps." Singh dismissed as "far from truth" Pakistan's claims
that the terrorists and criminals demanded by India were not in that country.
"Pakistan government has full knowledge
who is where," the minister said adding some people from India who had
gone to Pakistan had seen them besides which there is "authoritative information"
.
He particularly refused to believe
that government did not know where Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Azhar Masood
was. "Such statements are regrettable," he said.
