Author: B L Kak
Publication: The Daily Excelsior
Date: October 24, 2001
URL: http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/01oct24/national.htm#4
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: India's Foreign
Office has sent out a message, informing Washington that New Delhi would
decide when to resume dialogue with Islamabad. India, the message has asserted,
cannot be forced to accept dictation from others.
The message assumes importance in
the context of the pressure from Washington which wants India and Pakistan
to start talking right away. Much as the United States wants New Delhi
and Islamabad to start talking and lower the tensions as it deals with
Afghanistan, the Vajpayee Government is not in a mood, in the given situation,
to oblige.
Significantly, before the message
was dashed off to Washington, the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Jaswant
Singh, while responding to a question on improving relations with Pakistan,
made it plain: "Nobody can push the pace of it".
And the Americans have been told
in detail how firmly New Delhi will deal with Pakistan-aided cross-border
terrorism. New Delhi's two significant decisions: First, it will resume
the stalled dialogue only after Islamabad gave up its monomaniacal approach
to India. Second, India will be far more aggressive in dealing with Pakistan-sponsored
terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in the country.
This clearly suggests that there
will be more action from Indian security forces. Indeed, Mr Jaswant Singh,
following his consultations with the trio-Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr LK
Advani and Mr George Fernandes-declared that whenever there is evidence
of infiltration from across the border, there would be pre-emptive defensive
action.
True, the style of functioning of
each one of them is different from the other. But the Prime Minister, the
Home Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the Defence Minister seem
united on one thing-that is, New Delhi is for a composite dialogue which
will cover many issues, including Kashmir. New Delhi has rejected the reference
to the centrality of Kashmir in Indo-Pakistan relations.
If Pakistan President and military
ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, spared no punches in hitting out at the Indian
leaders on Monday night in the course of a special interview with a panel
of three senior Pak journalists on the Government-controlled Pakistan Television
(PTV), the Vajpayee Government justified its standpoint vis-à-vis
Pakistan-India views Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism in the region.
At a time when Pakistani rulers
and anti-India lobby in Pakistan have antagonised Indian public opinion,
the Vajpayee Government seems to have been compelled to take due cognizance
of anti-Pakistan feeling in several areas of India. In other words, Mr
Vajpayee and his men want to respect the public opinion in India.
While it is generally felt in the
Indian capital that the talk of talks between New Delhi and Islamabad won't
see any forward movement, a message has been sent out by the Vajpayee Government
that its strategy is to prove Pakistan's continuing support for terrorism
in Jammu and Kashmir.
Gen. Musharraf's diatribe against
Mr LK Advani and Mr George Fernandes surfaced at a time when his (Gen.
Musharraf's ) support base has been rattled. As the opposition against
him is rising following his tie-up with the US Administration against the
Taliban and Osama bin Laden, the average Pakistani has been reported to
be assailed by a fear of a civil war in Pakistan sooner than later.
While Mr Khalid Rehman, Director-General
of Islamabad's Institute of Policy Studies has been reported to have observed
that "Musharraf's days are numbered and politically he is a dead man",
Mr Sartaj Aziz, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, has said that if the
unrest on the streets continues, it will lead to civil war. And Mushahid
Hussain, as reported by Islamabad's newspaper, Ausaf, let it be known:
"The blind use of US military power has led to an increase in the support
for the Taliban in Pakistan.
In fact, while stating that the
new ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ehsan-ul-Haq, will use his rapport with religious
leaders to make them tone down their rhetoric against Gen. Musharraf, Mr
Hamid Mir, editor of Ausaf, has maintained that the task being undertaken
by him (ISI chief) is going to be "tough".
Mr Hamid Mir has said that Gen.
Musharraf knows that he became a "hero" in Pakistan on July 16 when he
spoke for the Kashmiris in Agra. "But now the scene has changed. Many Kashmiris
are also on the streets against the US and Musharraf", Mr Mir has noted.
