Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 28, 2002
Introduction: The right to pre-emptive
strikes is inherent in the sovereignty of a nation to protect itself but
need not apply in the Indo-Pak context, say administration officials
The US has acknowledged the right
of countries to resort to preventive or pre-emptive strikes in self-defence
but has cautioned that such a step should be considered after all other
avenues are exhausted and that it does not necessarily apply in the India-Pakistan
context.
The US position came in the course
of testimony by Secretary of State Colin Powell before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee during which he said, "The right to resort to pre-emptive
or preventive strikes is inherent in the sovereignty of a nation to protect
itself.
"The concept of pre-emptive strikes
has been included in this year's strategy report to alert the public to
the fact that terrorist threat is different from other threats. It could
be applied to terrorists or to a country," Mr Powell told the committee
while building up the American case for an attack on Iraq.
But administration officials have
been quick to caution that the doctrine need not apply in the India-Pakistan
context. "You have got to remember that we are going through a lot of avenues
before deciding anything. We are not jumping into an attack. We are going
through the UN Security Council," a senior administration official said.
Officials also point out privately
that there is a nuclear dimension to the problem in South Asia that they
feel precludes the kind of solution that is available to Washington.
Fears of heightened tension in South
Asia have begun registering again in Washington following events in Gujarat
and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's statements in New York and New
Delhi to the effect that US pressure on Pakistan is not working and India
retains its option to act against terrorism.
Officials here say US pressure on
Pakistan has been relentless and they will continue to keep pressing Islamabad
to lay off its infiltration tactics, which they say have declined considerably
but continue in lesser degree. One official said it was obvious that India
was putting the squeeze on the US to put more squeeze on Pakistan. "I think
there is some more squeeze left," the official acknowledged.
The US views on the situation in
the region were conveyed again by the State Department's tough-talking
deputy secretary Richard Armitage during a meeting with Pakistan's foreign
minister Inam-ul-Haq earlier this week. According to the Pakistani media,
Mr Armitage asked Pakistan to recognize the ongoing assembly elections
in Jammu and Kashmir as an important step towards a dialogue between the
two countries and peace in the region.
