Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 3, 2002
For all its attempts to internationalise
the Kashmir issue, Pakistan now faces a situation where world attention
is focused on cross-border terrorism on the Indo-Pak border, senior advocate
and MP Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
Delivering the annual Lalit Doshi
Memorial Lecture on 'Terrorism and India' at K.C. College, Churchgate,
Mr Jaitley said that India's attempts to show the world that Pakistan was
responsible for cross-border terrorism had largely succeeded. Nevertheless,
Pakistan still needed to dismantle, all the infrastructure that was available
to terrorists in the country, such as the training camps, said Mr Jaitley
who was recently appointed as the Centre's representative for talks with
the Jammu and Kashmir government as well as political parties on the devolution
of powers to the state.
The former law minister further
said that "ostensible stands (on terrorism), like the one our neighbour
has taken", could not be allowed. While Pakistan itself claimed to be a
victim of terrorist activities, statements such as these were "doubtful"
as many of those committing terrorist activities in India were of Pakistan-origin,
he added.
To tackle terrorism, a "powerful,
international grid" to share intelligence should be in place, the former
law minister said, adding that knowledge about terrorists would help thwart
their activities. A strong legal system was also needed to ensure that
terrorist outfits would be banned and the "profits of terrorism" confiscated.
Intelligence gathering was an integral
part of fighting terrorism and intercepting communication was necessary
for this, he said. "If intercepts were not allowed, getting hold of terrorists
would be difficult."
Although these legal safeguards
had provoked protests from human rights groups, Mr Jaitley said that there
was also a certain category of human rights organisations propped up by
insurgency movements. "Every underground insurgent movement has an over-ground
human rights movement," he added, which discredited the government
whenever terrorists were targeted. At the same time, "innocents should
not be made victims of a tough regime", Mr Jaitley said.
Mr Jaitley said that counter- terrorism
methods could create a sense of alienation among people. For instance,
in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre spent seven to ten times more on citizens
than in other states. Moreover, the percentage of Below Poverty Line families
was lower in Jammu and Kashmir than in the rest of the country
"The national figure is 26 per cent
and in an affluent state like Punjab, the figure is 6.5 per cent. But in
J&K, the figure is 3.8 per cent." However, people there still felt
alienated because there was no investment in the area because of terrorist
activities, which also had a negative impact on social cohesion and resulted
in certain communities migrating, he added.
Mr Jaitley pointed out that the
proxy war had cost India much more than conventional warfare. "In the four
conventional wars we fought, the total number of securitymen who lost lives
were 9,857. In the last 15 years, the number of civilians who were killed
in terrorist activities were 62,221," he said.
