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Scoring a Self Goal

Scoring a Self Goal

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.


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