Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 25, 2003
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=201527
Notwithstanding its self-professed
role as a frontline state in the war on terrorism, Pakistan finds itself
cornered on the issue. The US, India and Afghanistan have come together
to warn Pakistan's military government not to mess around in its neighbourhood.
US President George Bush bluntly
told Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday to "stop cross-border
terrorism in Kashmir" and "infiltration" into Afghanistan.
Despite effusive public praise for
Pakistan for its role in the war on terrorism, Bush appears to have got
tough with Musharraf during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN session
in the face of complaints from both Prime Minister Vajpayee and Afghan
President Hamid Karzai about Pakistan's hostile activities.
"President Bush and President Musharraf
had an 'excellent meeting' in which they talked about the challenges in
the war on terrorism, talked about the need to stop cross-border terrorism
in Kashmir," a senior US administration official told reporters in a background
briefing about Bush's engagements for the day.
It was the first time a high-level
US official has attributed such a blunt and direct expression as "cross-border
terrorism in Kashmir" to Bush. The formulation is of Indian origin and
US diplomacy and language in this matter has been a little subtler in the
past.
The tougher language was also evident
in the context of the Pakistan-Afghanistan problem. The official also said
Bush had asked Musharraf "to go back and redouble his efforts" to deal
with infiltration into Afghanistan, although she softened the message by
elaborating on the difficult terrain in the region and Pakistan's change
of heart while insisting there was more to do.
"If you look at where Pakistan was
prior to 9/11 and where Pakistan is now, you've had a complete shift in
the orientation of Pakistan's foreign policy, of Pakistan's policy towards
Afghanistan and the Taliban, and Pakistan's policy towards terrorism,"
the official said. "It doesn't mean that there isn't more to do, but that
has to be acknowledged."
In a separate briefing, External
Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters that Prime Minister Vajpayee
informed the US President that India had not seen any decline in cross-border
terrorism or infiltration or in the matter of dismantling the infrastructure
of terrorism in Pakistan. As a result, no sustained dialogue was possible
because there was no change in the mindset of the rulers of Pakistan.
Pakistan's low-intensity hostility
is also being blamed indirectly for India's rejection of troops to Iraq.
Vajpayee told Bush that as far as the commitment of Indian troops to Iraq
was concerned, New Delhi had to first consider its own increased security
demand over the past few weeks.
Washington's hardening sentiment
and language against Pakistan follows reports about the country's continuing
subversive activities in both India and Afghanistan. Senior US officials
in recent weeks have publicly spoken about it.
State Department's Christina Rocca
recently stressed the need to contain terrorism emanating from Pakistan,
while even the US envoy to Pakistan, Nancy Powell, wondered how Pakistan
could not find Taliban activists when reporters from US media were interviewing
them all the time.
The open indictment of Pakistan's
role in fomenting violence in the region came even as Musharraf was sending
mixed signals and tying himself in knots at his various engagements in
New York. Sometimes he protested that Pakistan was not involved in terrorism
and was not encouraging infiltration; at other times, he suggested terrorism
could be contained by talks.
In his speech before the UN, Musharraf
initially described the movement in Kashmir as indigenous. Two paragraphs
later he admitted Pakistan had the leverage to stop the violence in Kashmir
by the renegades he describes as freedom fighters and the rest of the world
calls terrorists.
Various statements and developments
during this week in New York have virtually nailed Pakistan on charges
of terrorism. The Bush's administration outing its ally publicly on Wednesday
comes after the US media reported continuing Pakistani complicity or inaction
on terrorism.
In its latest issue, Time magazine
reports on how serving Pakistani military officials were caught operating
with the Taliban. The magazine also reports on how Pakistan has reneged
on its promise to close down terrorist camps operating against India while
denying their existence, forcing US Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage to
produce a dossier of satellite photographs showing the camps last June.
"Musharraf acted outraged and upset,"
Time quotes a State Department official as saying, but it wasn't clear
to the Americans whether he was angry that the camps were functioning or
that the US had uncovered them.
Musharraf has similarly protested
Pakistan's innocence during his New York engagements, arguing that the
border with India cannot be foolproofed and the terrain on the border with
Afghanistan is too hostile to completely root out the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
But there are now doubts in the
US establishment, endorsed by New Delhi and Kabul, whether Pakistan's change
of heart is real or tactical.
