Author: Indo-Asian News Service
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: September 13, 2002
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/020913/43/1v6p7.html
Terrorism and Pakistan will not
be allowed to "hijack" relations between India and the U.S., visiting Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told a delegation of American Jews that called
on him here.
His comment followed an appeal from
the 21-member group that Washington and New Delhi join forces with the
Israeli government, especially to fight terrorism.
The organisations that met Vajpayee
at the New York Palace Hotel Thursday were B'nai B'rith International,
the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Institute of National Security
Affairs and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.
The Indian prime minister is in
New York for the ongoing U.N. General Assembly session and to hold bilateral
talks with world leaders.
He told the group that the war on
terrorism would succeed only if the infrastructure of terrorism was dismantled
and terrorists' safe havens in Pakistan dealt with, said external affairs
ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao.
When the Jewish leaders asked whether
India is troubled by the "equivalence" that is seen in some quarters of
the U.S. in judging about India-Pakistan relations, Vajpayee responded
by saying that India and the U.S. are the world's largest democracies and
cannot allow Pakistan to come in between, said Rao.
The sectarian violence in Gujarat
this year was also a topic at the discussion.
Vajpayee said a lot of misunderstanding
had been spread about Gujarat. He said there was a history of tolerance
and culture in the state and many great leaders of India's freedom struggle,
including Mahatma Gandhi, hailed from there.
Vajpayee called the attacks an aberration.
He promised that everything was under control and normal now and told the
group: "You may come and visit if you want."
Rao said the prime minister had
thanked the Jewish community for the support he received from them for
the promotion of India-Israel relations. He also said India was the only
country where there had been no anti- Semitism.
The exchange of views was extremely
interesting and covered a vast range of subjects, said spokesperson Rao,
adding that there were around 60,000 Jews of Indian origin in Israel who
still retained their cultural ties with India.
After the meeting, David J. Harris,
executive director of the American Jewish Committee, told IANS: "The main
issues discussed were the ties between India and the U.S. and the meeting
of Vajpayee with President George W. Bush.
"We also spoke about the blossoming
of relations between India and Israel. We dwelt on the common thread of
terrorism that the democracies of India, Israel and the U.S. face. We spoke
about the intensifying cooperation in the U.S. between the Indian American
community and the American Jewish community."
Vajpayee reportedly expressed a
desire for enhanced cooperation between American Jews and Indian Americans
and indicated that the Indian American community in the U.S. is relatively
new and has much to learn from the Jewish community here.
Cheryl Halpern, the chair of the
advisory council of B'nai B'rith International, said: "We spoke about the
need to promote better understanding between the Indian community in the
U.S. and the Jewish community.
"There should be much greater integration
between us -- because we are so similar. The pillars of our communities
reflect faith, family and generosity."
During the talks, Vajpayee also
spoke of his friendship with Israel and said that even when he was a member
of the opposition, he was in favour of relations between India and Israel
"at a time when there were no relations" between them.
