Author: Saurabh Shukla
Publication: India Today
Date: July 16, 2007
Even though terrorism continues to be the
single biggest impediment in the Indo-Pak peace process, Home Minister Shivraj
Patil's remarks, on the eve of the home secretary-level talks between the
two countries, have exposed yet again how different ministries in the Government
have been working at cross purposes on the crucial issue of national security.
On cross-border infiltration, Patil was quoted
as saying in Srinagar on July 1: "We should not blame Pakistan for every
wrong thing... increase in infiltration and spurt in violence here... we are
not in the process of a blame game. We are trying to understand and complement
each other."
The remarks came on the eve of strategic talks
on July 2-3. They also stood against what intelligence sources and even the
Foreign Office had reported-a sudden spurt in infiltration figures-compared
to last year. "We had sent our report, the infiltration figures were
highest since the last three years," a South Block official said.
Earlier on June 6, General J.J. Singh, the
army chief, had also blamed elements in the Pakistan Army for supporting militants
infiltrating into the country. In April, Defence Minister A.K. Antony had
said that the month had witnessed an unusual upswing in infiltration attempts.
He had said the army was asked to monitor the situation for three months to
discern whether there was a pattern in the bids by militants to sneak across
the Line of Control.
Predictably, Patil's remarks provided a escape
route to the Pakistani delegation, led by its Home Secretary Syed Kamal Shah,
at the talks. "Pakistan, itself, is a victim of terrorism and the country
has always been against such acts," Shah told his Indian counterpart
Madhukar Gupta.
The Indian team, on the other hand, could
not help but keep its approach soft, what with the boss already having set
the tone. There was no substantive outcome at the end of the talks, but the
tokenism of the two sides condemning all acts of terrorism was adhered to.
On Wednesday, the home ministry went on a
damage control mission and clarified, "The Home Minister has been wrongly
quoted in the reports. The highly distorted reports have created totally avoidable
confusion and controversy." But this is not the first time such a controversy
has arisen. Even after the Mumbai blasts last year, different voices from
the Government had given ammunition to Pakistan, which was under the scanner
for its role in fomenting terrorism. It's time the Government prevented its
own ministers from fomenting trouble and creating confusion.