Author: Brahma Chellaney
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: October 10, 2001
Us Secretary of State Powell is
expected to deliver in New Delhi the same message as British Prime Minister
Blair: India should not do anything that could unsettle Pakistan's current
role in the military campaign in Afghanistan. Rather, India should listen
to Washington and restart 'peace' talks with Pakistan just the way Yasser
Arafat and Ariel Sharon were persuaded to talk to each other again.
Washington is concerned that India,
pushed against the wall by the recent terror attack on the J&K legislature,
might begin to apply against Pakistan the same logic the Americans are
applying against the Taliban. Vajpayee is under growing pressure from all
his senior ministers to act tough, not merely talk tough.
To help ease such pressures, Bush,
Powell and Blair have made statements that their offensive will target
terrorism in all its forms, including terror in Kashmir. The Americans
have also held out the promise of a symbolic action -- including Jaish-e-Mohammed
in Bush's list of terrorist groups whose assets are to be frozen.
It is significant that Musharraf's
US-instructed 'peace' overture to Vajpayee in the form of a telephone call
came a day after he fired ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed. The Americans want
New Delhi to believe that Ahmed was fired for the Srinagar attack. The
message is that since punishment has been meted out, India should not strike
back but talk to America's new pet dictator, Musharraf.
The reality is that Washington and
Musharraf had their own reasons to send Ahmed into premature retirement.
Musharraf, aware of the timing of the first military strikes on the Taliban,
seized the opportunity to purge the military of rival generals who played
a key role in installing him in power two years ago. The Americans wanted
both to strengthen Musharraf's hands and to oust a general who shared little
intelligence on the Taliban with them.
By helping Musharraf tighten his
grip on power, the US is building up a fiendish general whose concrete
record of covert and terrorist operations against India parallels the mythologised
record of Osama's terrorist exploits. More than Ahmed, Musharraf is accountable
for the murder of 40 people in the attack on J&K's embodiment of democracy.
There is no way Vajpayee can reopen
talks with a murderous dictator who publicly gloats about the "freedom
struggle going on in Kashmir" and then a few hours later calls up to suggest
'peace' negotiations. The Americans should realise Vajpayee has no desire
to commit political harakiri.
