The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, September 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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No bargain on Kashmir: USA
Assurance on security of Sikhs
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17
India has taken strong exception to the preconditions reportedly set by Pakistan for cooperating with the USA in its reprisal attacks against the fugitive Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

In turn, the USA has taken pains to assuage the hurt Indian feelings. US Ambassador in India Robert D Blackwill today met External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and is believed to have assured them that his country had not and would not enter into any deal with Pakistan at the cost of India.

Mr Blackwill met Mr Jaswant Singh in his South Block office in the morning and called on Mr Advani in North Block in the evening. Mr Blackwill had also met senior ministers and key members of the all-powerful Cabinet Committee on Security last week.

Pakistan’s reported pre-conditions for its support to US reprisal attacks are that India and Israel should not be made a part of any retaliatory action and that the USA should play a more active role in settling the Kashmir issue.

According to well-placed sources here, India would like certain points to be clarfied with the USA and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has directed his Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, who is currently in Moscow, to Washington to do this job.

Meanwhile, USA’s senior diplomat in India, Dr Robert Bogg, met Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister S.S. Dhindsa and assured him that his country had not struck any bargain with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue in return for its assistance in the reprisal attacks. He also assured Dhindsa that the Bush administratrion was committed to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Sikhs.

Mr Blackwill, while reassuring that the incidents were being investigated and informing that one of the attackers had been arrested, was believed to have told the Home Minister that these attacks were isolated incidents.

He also called on Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Pak terms absurd, says Jaswant

New Delhi, September 17
External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today described as” sheer absurdity” Pakistan’s reported conditions to the USA on resolving the Kashmir problem in exchange of rendering assistance in tracking down Osama bin Laden.

Commenting on President Pervez Musharraf’s demand for Washington’s intervention in the Kashmir issue, the minister, in an interview to Star TV, said Pakistan was not committed to settle the dispute within the bilateral framework.

He said: “It is sheer absurdity what is suggested there (Pakistan). There cannot be any bargain with terrorism as it tantamounts to accepting terrorism and give legitimacy to it”.

The minister admitted that Pakistan had emerged as a frontline state “geographically” in launching crusade against terrorism although it was not yet conceptually a frontline state in the battle against terrorism.

Referring to the ongoing Indo-Pak dialogue, he said September 11 terror strikes in the USA had hampered the Agra process. “It is a full stop and if not a full stop along semi colon.’’

Asked whether India was ready to destroy terrorist camps that dotted several parts of Pak-occupied Kashmir along the Line of Control, Mr Singh said: “You are talking only about the military option. War against terrorism cannot be fought by military means alone. It is one of the components. There are diplomatic, economic and legal systems, there is the build-up of the international community ... we have to use all aspects of waging war against terrorism.’’ UNI

India denies giving land for attack

Moscow, September 17
National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra today denied media reports that India would provide its territory to the USA for attacking Afghanistan in the wake of recent terrorist strikes in New York and Washington.

Mr Mishra, after negotiations in the Kremlin with Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo, said he did not know anything about the deployment of any foreign forces in India.

According to him, the USA did not reach India with such a request.

Mr Mishra highlighted the need for a dialogue between India and Russia in the context of recent changes in the international situation.

Mr Mishra, who is here prior to the Indo-Russian summit, said “although the visit had been planned long before the recent events in the United States, it would still be appropriate to address the current state of affairs in the world”.

“We have come to Moscow with a desire to most sincerely discuss international and regional situations,” he added.

Mr Rushailo, in his opening speech, said one of the meeting’s goals was to prepare the upcoming Russian-Indian summit in Moscow in November, reports Novosti.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh have reaffirmed mutual readiness to coordinate subsequent joint efforts aimed at curbing the threat of terrorism and religious extremism in the spirit of strategic partnership.

Both the ministers telephonically discussed the last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. UNI