KATHMANDU, Jan 3: India and Pakistan are expected to spell out their widely awaited approaches on Friday to ease a threat of war that has anguished the world and overshadowed an ambitious social and economic agenda that had brought together the seven regional countries together in 1985, diplomats of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) said on Thursday.
The early signs were that both sides were prepared to put in hard work and compromises to remain unnoticed by the global glare that will follow them for all of three days in Kathmandu and at their retreat at a mountain resort, diplomats said. However, both sides were sticking to their statements that no talks were likely at any level in Kathmandu.
Everyone watching the opening of the three-day Saarc summit would be riveted to the body language and addresses to be delivered by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf primarily, although inputs from Sri Lanka and Nepal, the outgoing and the incoming chairmen of Saarc, would inevitably contribute to the eventual direction the two countries decide to take.
Adding to the clout of all those who will speak in favour of India-Pakistan talks on Friday at the 11th Saarc summit in Kathmandu, are an increasing array of messages from the more powerful western countries, to both sides to start talking and to stop threatening the region, and thereby the world, with their new-found nuclear arsenal.
The first hints of a likely approach were already available from both sides as Vajpayee flew into Kathmandu a day ahead of Gen Musharraf, expected to arrive from Beijing only a few hours before the summit opens at 2pm local time on Friday. Vajpayee arrived early for an overdue bilateral visit to Nepal and to pay his respects at the Pashupatinath Temple to Lord Shiva, where only Hindus are allowed.
Shortly before leaving for Kathmandu Vajpayee told a news conference in Lucknow that war with Pakistan was not inevitable although he would need to see the steps taken by Islamabad to curb terrorism.
“The steps taken by Pakistan so far against some terrorist outfits operating from its soil were not satisfactory,” Vajpayee said. According to a transcript of his remarks made available in Kathmandu, he said India would like to have full details of action taken against those in Pakistan who India holds responsible for the Dec 13 attack on Parliament.
Reacting to reports regarding the possibility of a war with Pakistan, Vajpayee said: “I have never said that a war is inevitable. We are using diplomatic means and are not against a dialogue.”
To another question, Vajpayee said there was no proposal to abrogate the Indus Water treaty with Pakistan as part of India’s diplomatic offensive. When asked whether he was satisfied with the US stand on the Indo-Pakistan stand-off, Vajpayee said India was getting wide international support in its fight against terrorism.
Pakistan’s approach to the issue at hand was contained remarks by Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. In an interview to the Times of India editor Dileep Padgaonkar in Kathmandu, Sattar was said to have “sent the strongest signals to date that Islamabad is willing and able to address India’s concerns and demands following the terrorist attack on Parliament to ensure that the two countries resumed dialogue at the earliest.”
The Times, available in Kathmandu, quoted Sattar as as saying that the present state of Indo-Pakistan relations was a cause for great anxiety, and the danger of an escalation of hostilities due to a “miscalculation” could not be ruled out.
But his emphasis throughout was on the steps Pakistan has undertaken, and is prepared to undertake, to curb religious extremism in his country and to bring to book individuals or organizations involved in terrorist activities from its soil.
According to Padgaonkar, Sattar reiterated that the terrorist attack on Parliament was “reprehensible” and that Pakistan awaited details of a deeper probe to determine what action needs to be taken, if any, at its end. At any rate, he pointed out, the attack served to strengthen the Musharraf government’s resolve to fight terrorism “even if hard evidence is not forthcoming.”
The anti-terrorism resolutions adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations “made it obligatory on states to take action.” Sattar said that Musharraf had begun discussing religious extremism early in 2001 but the terrorist strikes in America on Sept 11 and the one on the Indian Parliament had accelerated the process of “channelising our resolve to fight terrorism into specific action.”
Sattar said that India’s strong reactions and the demands it began to make have “complicated the process to some extent.” However, at the same time “we realized that things have to be done.”
Sattar’s Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh was equally accommodating, and in fact went to the extent of acknowledging that Pakistan needed time to dismantle what he described as structures of terrorism. Singh was addressing a news conference in Kathmandu. He also reiterated his appreciation of some steps taken by Islamabad to track and arrest terrorists and close down their organizations.
“The steps taken against Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammed are welcome steps in the right direction,” Singh said, a day after a cabinet colleague from his Bharatiya Janata Party slammed similar remarks he made earlier.
Singh said a list of 20 alleged terrorists had been handed over to Pakistan, including the names of some Mumbai underworld dons India holds responsible for the Mumbai blasts in 1993. Singh said his government had forwarded details of how these people were involved in the attacks and why India believes they are lodged or harboured by Pakistan.
Singh said war was not a trivial issue and as a former soldier himself he could not endorse recourse to it without serious consideration.
