Author: HT Correspondent
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: October 11, 2001
India saw the October 1 bombing
of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as an opportunity to make Washington
press Pakistan on its sponsorship of terrorism. According to official Indian
sources, this resulted in the West armtwisting Pakistan and reassuring
India that the issue of Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism would be addressed.
Before the Srinagar attack, the
Indian Government had made a conscious decision not to harp about Kashmir
to Washington. National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra said little about
the issue during his United States visit. Nonetheless, the US promised
that after Afghanistan, phase two would address Pakistan-based terror.
India decided to "go on the offensive"
after the Srinagar attack. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wrote to
the US President George W. Bush. His communications with Bush, said Foreign
Ministry sources, said, in effect, that "your present ally of convenience
is behind this." He added that India's patience was "running out." Jaswant
Singh, who was in Washington on October 1, passed on a similar message.
According to sources in the Prime
Minister's Office, India warned that the US strike on Afghanistan was based
on the right to self-defence. It would be illogical to deny India the same
right.
These harsh words galvanized the
West. Reassurances were sent by Washington to New Delhi. Britain's Prime
Minister Tony Blair denounced the Srinagar attack during a speech before
a special session of the House of Commons. A key reason for his visit to
New Delhi was to pacify India.
Washington has told India that it
plans to ask Pakistan to follow the "Afghan example" when the present phase
of the war is over. Pakistan will be asked to dismantle terrorist camps
and crackdown on jihadi groups.
But the West's concern at tension
in the subcontinent preceded the Srinagar attack. Western diplomats called
Musharraf's address to the nation -- where he infamously told India to
"lay off" -- as "unhelpful". Under US pressure, Pakistani Foreign Minister
Abdul Sattar made a placating phone call to New Delhi. Musharraf's latest
television speech infuriated Washington. Again, the US armtwisted him.
His phone call to Vajpayee, say Foreign Ministry sources, "was all about
this".
