Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 26, 2002
Gen Pervez Musharraf has directed
his 10th Corps, deployed in northern Pakistan and facing Indian forces
in Kashmir, to stop the infiltration of terrorists and jehadi elements
into India.
Gen Musharraf's move follows a commitment
he made to the Bush administration, according to reports emerging from
Pakistan that were corroborated in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell, who has been speaking frequently to his fellow soldier, is
understood to have conveyed to him the inevitability of a punitive strike
by India if he failed to act.
India, as in the past, is singularly
unimpressed with the reported backing down. Officials here repeated the
Indian stand that followed Gen Musharraf's January 12 speech that New Delhi
would wait to see the words translated into action.
For a change, even Washington was
circumspect in greeting the announcement. Considered Gen Musharraf's biggest
patron, the U.S. State Department, which spared no effort to burnish the
military ruler's credentials as a frontline ally in the war on terrorism,
was strangely subdued in its reaction, echoing India's wait-and-watch attitude.
"Gen Musharraf has made statements
again that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used by terrorists
for attacks anywhere. These positive statements need to be linked with
concrete actions. And so we will continue to work on this very closely,"
the State Department's deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.
By committing to "work on this closely",
the U.S. has emerged as a virtual guarantor against terrorist infiltration
into India.
The U.S. change of heart came after
India produced concrete evidence about re-established camps and increased
infiltration. U.S. intelligence agencies separately arrived at the same
conclusions.
Senior Bush administration officials
have said the U.S. "largely" shares India's conclusion that incursions
have resumed after a brief lull.
