Wednesday, Dec 18, 2002
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By Vaiju Naravane
In a talk at the French International Relations Institute, Mr. Sibal, in Paris for top-level political consultations, described the West's failure to put sufficient pressure on Pakistan to halt its terrorist activities against India as ``a grave error''. He said India's neighbours, either by choice or default, by acts of omission or commission, were involved in harbouring terrorists and ignoring or tolerating terrorist activity directed against India from their soil. This included Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and, of course, Pakistan. The Foreign Secretary was at pains to point out that the West should not mistake the reduced Indo-Pak. tension and the fact that elections had been held both in Jammu and Kashmir and in Pakistan to mean that India was prepared to open discussions with Pakistan. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf had not delivered on the promises he made to halt cross border terrorism. Instead, with the release of the imprisoned leaders of the Laskhar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed he was following a revolving-door policy, he said. All moves to de-escalate had come from India, and as a result the West's anxiety about an Indo-Pak conflict had reduced. Western nations, therefore, no longer felt the same need to put pressure on Pakistan to stop sponsoring terrorism. ``This is a grave error on the part of the international community. India made a major unilateral gesture to reduce tensions. And this is the moment to apply pressure on Pakistan so that Gen. Musharraf respects his promises, stops infiltration and dismantles the terrorist camps. There is also the credibility of the West involved. If in five months when the mountain passes unfreeze, if terrorism is stepped up again and if India is forced to defend herself, the West will be in no position to call for further restraint from India.'' Mr. Sibal said India had given a road map of what it was prepared to do but there had been no sign or any credible gesture from Pakistan, which even refused to give India the most favoured nation status as enjoined on it by the World Trade Organisation. ``There can be neither discussion nor dialogue unless Pakistan decides to stop using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy.'' He denounced the West's selective approach to terrorism. ``If international terrorism is considered the most important problem facing the international community, then those calling for action cannot be seen to be adopting dual criteria or making distinctions between terrorism that cannot be tolerated and that which can. If one accepted that, terrorism would no longer be a global concern but one uniquely of the West,'' The epicentre of terrorism in South Asia was Pakistan and the region around Afghanistan. ``We have good information that the ISI is in the process of rebuilding its old networks in Afghanistan. The only foreign presence here besides the Pakistanis are the American forces with no emergence of anti-Taliban Pashtun forces. With the U.S. attention diverted by eventual hostilities in Iraq, Pakistan could further destabilise the region since there is a vacuum in the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan''. This was a worry shared by Iran, Russia and other regional states, he underlined. On the question of the recent contretemps between India and Washington on the question of Afghanistan, Mr. Sibal said: ``Gen. Musharraf takes advantage of the fact that the U.S. relies on him in the fight against the Al-Qaeda and the remaining Taliban. And in return, he expects U.S. receptivity on Pakistani interests in Afghanistan. This is a contradiction that the U.S. has to resolve — dealing with a regime that has been the backbone of the Taliban and which has now become a partner in the fight against them.The Pakistanis sowed trouble and instability in Afghanistan and now the Americans wish to bring stability there with the help of Pakistan. It is this dialectic that creates problems for countries like India. But despite this we have a good entente with the U.S. about Afghanistan and the role India should play there.'' Mr. Sibal suggested that the West's analysis that any alternative to Gen. Musharraf would be worse was erroneous because it indicated that there could be an accommodation reached with dictatorships.
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