Author: Arati R Jerath
Publications: The Indian Express
Dated: September 13, 2001
New Delhi, Sept 12: With United
States President George Bush vowing retribution for yesterday's attacks
in New York and Washington, both against the perpretators and against the
country sheltering them, India moved swiftly to make common cause with
Washington by offering all help in tracking down the culprits.
The offer was repeated twice, first
by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh who spoke to US Ambassador Blackwill
in New Delhi last evening, and then by Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
in a letter to Bush.
Sending a strong signal of India's
expectations now that the US has fallen victim to international terrorism,
Vajpayee wrote, "We stand ready to cooperate with you in the investigations
into this crime and to strengthen our partnership in leading international
efforts to ensure that terrorism never succeeds again."
Official sources said Vajpayee will
also talk to Bush over the telephone as soon as the Indian Embassy in Washington
can arrange it.
While it is too early to predict
the substantive font of an Indo-US axis on counter-terrorism, the Vajpayee
Government is hopeful that its efforts to isolate Pakistan will receive
a fillip with Washington's newly acquired sensitivity to the terrorism
menace.
The change in US attitudes is already
evident and India is preparing to exploit this, diplomatically and operationally,
against Pakistan. The existing Indo-US Joint Working group on Counter-
Terrorism will be strengthened in the coming days, officials said. In addition,
New Delhi is hopeful of finally garnering support for its draft convention
against terrorism, which is currently being discussed by the United Nations.
Official sources said they are moving
cautiously at the moment while they wait for the US Administration to pinpoint
the culprits behind yesterdays strikes at the World Trade Centre and the
Pentagon . Obviously, if Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden emerges as the
prime suspect, as is being unofficially discussed by US authorities, it
will be a real boon for India. Osama, said to be based in Afghanistan is
thought to be sponsoring much of the militancy in Kashmir by funding training
camps in Pakistan.
New Delhi has been trying to convince
the US for a long time that the nerve centre of international terrorism
has shifted from the Middle East to Afghanistan from where it radiates
out into Pakistan and Central Asia. Although the US put Osama on its hit
list (with a reward of US $ 5 million on his head) after the 1998 attack
on a US naval ship, it has so far hesitated to strike at the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan which has been sheltering him.
The Government is hopeful that all
this will change in the coming days, especially if the needle of suspicion
points clearly at Osama.
As India gears up to sieze its diplomatic
advantage on the terrorism issue, Israeli National Security Advisor Major
General Uzi Dayan's New Delhi visit, which inadvertently coincided with
the terrorist strikes in the US, may prove fortuitous. Dayan met the entire
top brass of the Indian Government, starting with his counterpart Brajesh
Mishra yesterday and moving on to the PM, Jaswant Singh and Home Minister
L K Advani today. As expected, a strong commonality of views emerged in
the discussions and the Indian leaders used the opportunity to give substance
to their shared perceptions. Israel and the US have been combating terrorism
jointly in the Middle East and India is keen to establish similar structures
with both countries to tackle the menace in this region.
