Address by Ambassador LALIT MANSINGH
at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars
Washington DC
October 11, 2001
I am grateful to the Woodrow Wilson
Center for giving me this opportunity to address this distinguished forum.
India has benefited greatly from
the work of this prestigious center of learning and research. The Asia
Program at the Wilson Center has emerged as one of the major schools of
innovative academic studies in Washington, shaping and influencing thinking
about the region in India's extended neighbourhood.
Today, democratic and multi-cultural
societies like those of India and the United States live in the shadow
of terror. September 11 began like any other Tuesday. It ended like no
other. That Tuesday brought a new divide into the world. On one side, are
those who believe in freedom, pluralism, secularism and tolerance. On the
other, are those who seek to enslave us in the bondage of their narrowly
defined ideology.
Across this divide, the forces of
civilisation and progress are ranged against those of barbarism and obscurantism.
This is a war in which India and the United States stand shoulder-to-shoulder.
Both our countries have a vital stake in defeating the forces of terror
wherever they exist.
Woodrow Wilson said, "Democracy
is not so much a form of government as a set of principles." What is at
stake in this new war is more than our lands and our sovereignty. What
we are defending are our principles. The leaders of India's freedom movement
were inspired by the ideals of Jefferson, Wilson and Mahatma Gandhi. At
Independence, we opted for a parliamentary democratic system based on universal
suffrage. We rejected the notion that our multi-religious and multi-linguistic
society constituted different nations. We chose instead to be one nation
where different sections of our society lived in harmony, committed to
pluralism and guided by our historical ethos of tolerance. It is precisely
these factors, fundamental to India's existence as a nation that the terrorists
have chosen to strike.
In the last twenty years, over fifty
thousand innocent Indian lives have been sacrificed to the monster of terrorism.
Our aircraft have been hijacked. One of them was blown up over the Atlantic.
Trains and busses have been bombed. Buildings have been destroyed. Market
places, work places and even centers of learning have been attacked. The
terrorists' objective is simple and diabolical - to destroy our harmony
and our way of life. But they have failed. And we will never allow them
to succeed.
On Christmas eve two years ago,
an Indian Airlines aircraft was hijacked to Kandahar, the headquarters
of the Taliban. 178 innocent passengers were held hostage there for a week.
My government had to make an agonisingly difficult decision. It was forced
to release three terrorists from our prisons to secure the safety of the
hostages. Within days, the three released terrorists were in Pakistan.
They received succour and support in that country. They were hailed as
freedom fighters.
One of them, Masood Azhar, founded
the Jaish-i-Muhammad. Ten days ago, this group launched a suicide bomb
attack against the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Srinagar.
42 innocent people were killed in this attack on a symbol of democracy.
Another of the terrorists, Sheikh Syed, is now known to have sent money
from Pakistan to Mohammad Atta, the ring leader of the September 11 attacks.
Other groups that regularly terrorise the people of India like the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen,
Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are all mutations of the Al
Qaeda. They receive their sustenance and support from the same sources.
The global response to terrorism
must never be projected as a clash of civilisations. To do so, would be
to play into the terrorists' hands. To do so, would also destroy the edifice
of our multi-cultural societies. It is evident that terrorism thrives on
the soil of authoritarianism. The long term bulwark against terrorism is
to strengthen the democratic impulse and principles in every country and
to promote a sense of inclusion and tolerance in every society - in short
build a strong nation based on the edifice of a democratic, multi-cultural
framework.
This year marks the sixtieth anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and the United
States. The history of most of these last six decades has been meticulously
recorded by Ambassador Dennis Kux. To him, we were "estranged democracies".
Despite the common ideals and values that bind our two countries, our vision
was blurred by the thick clouds of the Cold War. The domain of our diplomatic
endeavours remained narrow. It was confined to the effort to reconcile
differing interests instead of building upon the sturdier foundations of
our common strengths.
Now the clouds of the Cold War have
lifted. We can see each other more clearly for what we are. My Prime Minister
has said we are "natural allies." The people of our two countries share
a deeply entrenched commitment to pluralism, rule of law and open debate.
Our partnership is anchored in the solid foundation of democracy. It is
driven by the congruency of our interests on many issues.
Our two countries are now engaged
in an intense and multi-faceted dialogue at the political and official
level covering political and security matters, economic and commercial
ties, energy and environment, science and technology, counterterrorism
and UN peacekeeping.
It was during Director Lee Hamilton's
term as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the seeds
of the India Caucus were sowed. The Caucus now boasts of a membership of
130, the largest single country Caucus in the House of Representatives.
It constitutes the driving force of closer relations between the people
of India and the people of the United States. The community of Indian origin
in the United States has been a valuable asset in this remarkable transformation.
It has helped to bridge the cultural and geographical divide between our
two countries. It has invested the relationship with substantial political,
economic and technological value.
Our positive reaction to the new
US strategic framework unveiled by President Bush on May 1 reflected our
belief in its potential to move us away from the offensive posture of the
Cold War era to a safer, defensive alternative. We particularly welcomed
his intention to reduce and place on de-alert strategic nuclear weapons
because this was consonant with our own commitment to global disarmament.
Concerns about India's nuclear programme
have fortunately been allayed. Our nuclear tests of 1998 were a response
essentially to the deteriorating security environment in our region. Even
as we maintain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent, we have declared a
voluntary moratorium on all further explosive nuclear underground testing.
The international community should be assured that India does not consider
nuclear weapons as instruments of war. Our policy will be governed by considerations
of restraint and responsibility.
We welcome the lifting of the economic
restrictions imposed by the United States in the wake of our nuclear tests
three years ago. We hope that we would soon be able to move beyond other
constraints that have been in place before 1998. These gestures would enable
our two countries to move forward in developing a fuller, broad-based and
more meaningful relationship. rade and investment have become the sinews
of our new dynamic partnership with the United States. Our bilateral trade,
which has grown impressively in the last few years, is today close to US$15
billion. Several measures have been taken recently to widen the trade access
that each has to the other. The US is also the largest foreign investor
in India. There is much that both countries can do to build further upon
this great mutuality.
Over the last decade, our economy
has grown at an average annual rate of six per cent. The Government of
India has launched a second generation of economic reforms. In April this
year, the last remaining quantitative restrictions were removed. Sectors
such as power, telecommunications, transport and insurance have been opened
up to private and foreign investment. The Information Technology sector
has been growing at over 30 per cent and the software industry at an average
of 50 per cent per year. The exciting prospect before us is the emergence
of the Knowledge Revolution, which India's ancient genius is well qualified
to lead. Concern expressed in some quarters that the impulse for reform
in India is weakening is misplaced. There is a strong political consensus
in favour of reform, which is now irreversible. India has demonstrated
that even in developing countries, economic reform can be pursued through
the democratic process. Our financial and juridical institutions are strong
and responsive. India aspires to be a major participant in the global economy.
Economic development is critically
dependent on peace and stability in our region. India's extended neighbourhood
stretches from the Gulf of Hormuz to the Straits of Malacca. With our immediate
neighbours, our policy has consistently been to develop our relations in
an atmosphere of mutual trust and on the basis of mutually advantageous
initiatives. As two of the oldest civilisations in the world, India and
China have the potential to imbue their bilateral relationship with the
sagacity that history has endowed their people with. We are confident of
resolving our political differences with Pakistan and with other neighbours
through a spirit of constructive bilateralism. It is in this spirit that
our Prime Minister hosted President Musharraf recently for intensive talks
in Delhi and Agra. Our approach is realistic. We believe that it is in
the larger interests of our people to build upon areas of convergence,
even as we work towards progress in the more difficult areas.
India has historical links with
Afghanistan. The statues of Buddha at Bamiyan which the Taliban destroyed
a few months ago, were manifestations of India's cultural diffusion in
that region. Until the advent of the Taliban, India was a major contributor
to Afghanistan's socio-economic development. Thousands of Afghan refugees
continue to seek shelter in India. The bombing of the US Embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania three years ago and the hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft
in December 1999 led to the setting up of a consultative mechanism between
India and the United States on counterterrorism. This cooperation was made
institutional in the Vision Statement signed during former President Clinton's
visit to India in March last year. It has intensified and gained momentum
under the present Administration.
Since September 11, India and United
States have consulted closely on the response to the attack against America.
Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Bush have exchanged written and telephonic
messages. The Minister for External Affairs and Defence Mr. Jaswant Singh,
and the National Security Adviser Mr. Brajesh Mishra, held intensive consultations
in Washington with President Bush and his Cabinet members and advisers.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit India early next week. India
and the United States are agreed that India has a vital role to play in
helping the people of Afghanistan elect a broad-based representative government
that will no longer be an exporter of terrorism.
As the campaign against terrorism
progresses, we need to look beyond an agenda bound by the more urgent issues.
A resurgent Asia offers us both opportunities and challenges. For us in
India, Asia has always been a distinctive region, comprising nations who
share millennia of history. My Prime Minister's visits earlier this year
to Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran were intended to emphasise our
interest in ensuring the well-being and prosperity of the people in India's
extended neighbourhood. Beyond the economic convergence, our security interests
are also closely aligned with the region that borders our territorial waters
and which forms a gateway to many important destinations for our exports.
India and the US have a strategic interest in ensuring peace and the security
of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. India will be a
force for stability and an important factor in Asia in this century.
India-US cooperation in the ASEAN
Regional Forum is a vital element in our endeavour to achieve common objectives
in the region. Our decision last year to establish a dialogue on Asian
security is a step in the right direction. We hope to build on this further.
Gen. Shelton's visit to India in July provided an opportunity to review
and discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between
India and the United States in consonance with our converging strategic
interests in the region. The institutional dialogue on defence cooperation
has been revived. A meeting of the Defence Policy Group is likely to take
place in Delhi next month. We have also made progress towards concluding
important bilateral agreements in this area.
The goals of peace and stability
cannot be fully achieved until we are able to bring about a more cooperative
and less inequitable world order. Despite the passage of the Cold War,
the world remains deeply divided. The rifts created by the fault line of
bloc confrontation have yet to be fully healed. Poverty and underdevelopment
are endemic in large parts of the world.
The United Nations must be strengthened
and become a repository of the confidence of all the nations in the world.
India supports the move to reform the UN system. As a democratic country,
India believes that the UN structures and institutions, particularly the
Security Council, should be democratised and made more representative of
its present vastly expanded membership. India believes it is fully qualified
to fulfill the responsibilities of permanent membership of the Security
Council.
The issues I have dwelt upon are
but a few that are vital to the building of a prosperous world in the twenty
first century. As free and vibrant democracies, India and the United States
have succeeded in forging a bond that has helped them to relate with each
other and with the rest of the world, in a manner that accommodates the
legitimate aspirations and concerns of their people. We have the vision
and commitment to work together to bridge the development gap and create
an enabling environment for the realisation of an equitable world.
Thank you.
