Author: Ramananda Sengupta in Islamabad
Publication: Pakistan daily
Date: January 6, 2004
The signing of the additional protocol
on terrorism at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad is likely to put pressure
on "Indian-sponsored" terrorism in at least three SAARC nations, according
to a report in the Daily Mail, a Pakistani newspaper, on January 5.
"Nepal King's [Birendra Bir Bikram
Shah Dev] murder goes to RAW's [Research and Analysis Wing] credit..."
said the "special report" from the paper's investigation cell". According
to the article, "a western intelligence agency has provided Kathmandu with
reasonable undeniable evidences of Indian hand in the murder of Nepalese
King Birendra along with other members of the royal family by Nepalese
Crown Prince Dipendra.
"Though this royal massacre was
attributed to the prince's love affair, it had a great conspiracy behind
it as the said western intelligence officials had provided Kathmandu with
solid reports [of the] prince being cultivated by RAW for years.
"The intelligence reports in this
direction suggest that King Birendra was murdered when he was to announce
a major decision about RAW's operational freedom in Nepal and planned to
cut down RAW activities in his country, which had virtually become second
RAW home by then.
"Besides, Nepalese government also
have sufficient and concrete evidences of comprehensive Indian support
to Maoist separatists and very strongly believe that Maoist rebels were
getting military training arms supplies and finances from India."
It also claimed that underworld
don Chhota Rajan is an Inter-Services Intelligence agent who has been advised
to lie low after the assassination attempt on him in Bangkok. The Thai
government's offer to deport Rajan to India was met with a lukewarm response
from New Delhi, and he was finally extradited to Vietnam at India's behest,
the paper said.
It said Sri Lankan military officials
"believe on the basis of substantive evidences and some undeniable proofs
that Delhi is still sponsoring, financing and arming" Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam terrorists. The report appeared the day Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met for the first
time since the aborted Agra summit in July 2001.
"Detailed discussions were held,
and the meeting was held in a good atmosphere," Pakistan's Information
Minister Sheikh Rashid said. While both Indian and Pakistani officials
remained tight-lipped over what precisely was discussed, External Affairs
Minister Yashwant Sinha said, Both leaders welcomed the recent steps towards
normalisation of relations between the two countries and expressed the
hope that the process will continue.
"The fact that the prime minister
came to Islamabad to attend the SAARC summit, the fact that the prime minister
met President Musharraf, that I have met my counterpart and the foreign
secretaries have met, is progress. Please look at it that way, I do not
think there is any other way to describe it."
In an indication that the two sides
had rehearsed and coordinated their version of the meeting, Pakistan foreign
office spokesman Masood Khan told journalists: "The two leaders discussed
the positive impact of the recent confidence-building measures and hope
that their momentum would be maintained. I want to make clear that I have
not revealed the content of their discussions, only the context in which
they were held." But unofficially, Pakistani officials said while Pakistan
had brought up the issue of Kashmir, India had brought up terrorism.
Earlier in the day, Vajpayee told
journalists after laying a foundation stone of an extension to the Indian
high commission in Islamabad: "The two sides have to realise each other's
problems and we have to find a way out together... Good relations with
Pakistan are a big responsibility. New questions have come up and new answers
are being sought."
But reports like the one in the
Daily Mail indicate that not everyone is happy with the thaw in relations.
Pakistani journalists repeatedly grilled the foreign ministry spokesman
on what Pakistan had received in return for the concessions made by Musharraf,
including the ceasefire on the border. "Doesn't anyone want to ask anything
about SAARC?" was Masood's plaintive query at the press conference, where
he was bombarded with questions on what transpired at the Musharraf-Vajpayee
meeting.
But while many Pakistani journalists
concurred with the Daily Mail's claims that India was sponsoring terror
in SAARC states and the recent additional protocol, which attempts to check
financing of terrorism, would give member states a handle to take on India,
others dismissed it as preposterous. "India has seized the advantage,"
said a senior columnist who declined to be named. The impression in Pakistan
was that Musharraf was giving away too much, too soon, he added. "But such
reports only vitiate the atmosphere, which has finally started showing
an improvement in many, many years."
