NEW DELHI, April 1: India responded tartly on Tuesday to US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s proposal to focus on South Asian issues after the war with Iraq, saying there was little that any foreign country could do to resolve its problems with Pakistan.
“It is our war,” Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters a day after Mr Powell was quoted as saying the “Indo-Pakistan and the whole subcontinent problem” was part of the “broader agenda” that the US plans to go back to after Iraq.
“I must make it clear that the role of outsiders is limited to cross-border terrorism,” Mr Sinha emphasized.
He was commenting on Mr Powell’s remarks that the India- Pakistan issue would be taken up to ensure that there is no threat of a nuclear war between the two subcontinental rivals. “I don’t know what was the occasion for him to say this but clearly time and tide wait for no one,” Mr Sinha said.
Mr Sinha’s remarks came after he released a book on Afghanistan at a public function.
“No other issue is as central in Jammu and Kashmir as cross- border terrorism” Mr Sinha said, and added: “To the extent to which any other country would pressure Pakistan as part of the global war on terrorism, it is fine but it is our war.”
Mr Sinha’s comments coincided with similarly acid remarks by Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes on the unilateral American assault on Iraq.
Press Trust of India quoted Mr Fernandes as cautioning that the unilateralism of the United States and Britain in waging the war against Iraq could have great consequences in times to come.
Asked if the Iraq war had a message for any consequences on other situations like Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Fernandes replied, “Who will have to face what, time will tell.”
Declaring that the very talk of post-war reconstruction of Iraq made him “sick rather than enthused,” Mr Fernandes said India will provide relief and rehabilitation to the people of Iraq.
