Author: Jyoti Malhotra
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 13, 2002
URL: http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=9400
The day after in New York, the air
waves may have belonged to Iraq but India and the US seem to have pulled
off quite a surprise on the margins of the UN General Assembly, with President
George Bush stressing his personal commitment to begin a ''long-term strategic
relationship'' with India.
During a 35-minute meeting between
Bush and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee this afternoon, after Genral Musharraf
of Pakistan used the rostrum at the UN to warn of the spectre of a religious
war and ''ethnic cleansing'' of Muslims in India, Bush expressed his concern
about the killings in Jammu & Kashmir on the eve of polls next week.
Significantly, the US side made
it clear that it did not accept ''any justification'' for terrorism in
any garb, including freedom struggle, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal here
said in a briefing after the event.
If there is any fight for freedom,
it should be on the basis of abiding by the tenets of freedom, not by taking
lives, the US president said. Significantly, he is believed to have assured
the PM that Washington would continue to use its leverage against Pakistan
to end cross-border infiltration against India. ''We did not even need
to make a case,'' Sibal said.
Indian diplomats here expressed
quiet satisfaction at the pathbreaking nature of today's meeting, which
pointed to a major shift in the quality of the relationship. Sibal pointed
out that both sides agreed to focus on the areas of space, energy (including
nuclear energy) as well as the transfer of high technology, that has been
on the banned list since India first went nuclear in 1974.
It is believed that Washington has
now agreed to work on side-stepping its own drastic anti-nuclear non-proliferation
laws, which are targeted as much against its own closest friends like Israel,
or newer ''natural allies'' like India.
Such cooperation goes beyond the
one on nuclear safety issues that have been discussed by both sides in
recent months. On the space front, ISRO and NASA are said to have agreed
to cooperate on remote sensing and even exchanging data on weather.
In fact, if the future is not derailed
by other cataclysm, today's 35-minute conversation between Bush and Vajpayee,
followed by lunch where US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice as
well as Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra were present, may have just
put the stamp on transforming ties ranging from Kashmir to nuclear issues.
It is public knowledge that Atomic
Energy chairman Anil Kakodkar as well as ISRO chairman Kasturirangan have
been visiting the US for talks with their counterparts, a far cry from
mid-1998, when then Atomic Energy chairman R. Chidambaram was insultingly
refused a visa to attend a seminar.
This morning, though, at the UN,
Musharraf clearly seemed desperate to catch the attention of the international
community over its running battle with India on Kashmir.
Musharraf may perhaps have been
encouraged by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning, who in his
opening remarks to the General Assembly, named the conflict in South Asia
as one among four most pressing issues that needed the priority of the
world community. Interestingly, Annan had been refused a visa to India
last year, because New Delhi felt they did not particularly want to listen
to his moralizing on Kashmir.
Still, this is the first time ever
that any UN Secretary-General has even indirectly referred to Kashmir,
and diplomats here admitted they were surprised by his comments. ''If fresh
conflict erupted in South Asia,'' Annan warned, without naming India, Pakistan
or Kashmir, ''then the international community might well have a role to
play'' to alleviate the crisis.
Bush, meanwhile, during his own
speech at the UN, predictably sought to stregthen his administration's
case for taking strong action on Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein had ''defied''
the world order for a decade and now must be taken to task for it. ''This
is a difficult and defining moment for the UN. Are Security Council resolutions
to be cast aside? We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people,'' Bush said,
but ended his speech warning the UN that Washington would not wait forever
for UN inspectors to return to Baghdad.
Still, it was Musharraf's speech
this morning that somewhat shook the normally deadpan, seen-it-all diplomats
at the UN out of their multilateral complacency. While most of his comments
on Kashmir, likening New Delhi to a colonialist and foreign occupier were
said to be ''old hat,'' many were shocked at his no-holds- barred use of
religion to divide Hindu from Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities and
even from the Scheduled Caste population.
''India's belligerence,'' he said,
''also reflects the chauvinistic ideology of the Hindu extremist parties
and organizations. Rising fanaticism in India has targeted Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs and even the Scheduled Caste Hindus. Last February, an estimated
2000 innocent Muslims were massacred and burned alive in Gujarat, with
the complicity of the BJP state leaders,'' Musharraf said.
Then, lobbying the international
community to condemn the riots, just like it had condemned ethnic cleansing
in other parts of the world, he added, ''There must be accountability for
this massacre. The international community must act to oppose extremism
in India with the same determination it displayed in combatting terrorism,
religious bigotry, ethnic cleansing and fascist tendencies elsewhere in
the world.''
Simultaneously, he sought to portray
Pakistan as waging a ''successful struggle to restore the traditions of
a tolerant Islam,'' by eradicating the sad legacy of the Afghan war.
With most of his speech devoted
to a criticism of India, Musharraf sought to also link the Kashmiri ''struggle
for self-determiantion'' with the Palestinian's struggle for an independent
state.
''Terrorist acts must be condemned,
but acts of terrorism by individuals or groups cannot be the justification
to outlaw the just struggle fo a people for self- determination and liberation
from colonial or foreign occupation,'' he said.
