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Saturday,
May 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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USA to arm
India’s elite forces WINDOW ON PAKISTAN
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LTTE
political action allowed
US Senate
passes Bill against bio-terror Council
opens UN door to East Timor
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USA to arm India’s elite forces Washington, May 24 After the end of three-day talks with his US counterpart Under Secretary of Defence Douglas Feith under the auspices of the Indo-US defence policy group (DPG), Mr Narain told reporters here that the USA would give India night vision equipment, thermal imaging, and personal protection equipment. The USA has also agreed to consider the Indian request to extend joint naval patrols from the Strait of Malacca to the Strait of Hormuz. A joint statement by the DPG on the meeting said the USA and India have charted a new course in bilateral relations which entails rapid growth in cooperation on defence and security matters. During the meeting, the two delegations approved a range of activities proposed by the DPG subgroups responsible for plans for cooperating, including specialised training programmes and joint exercises to be carried out by armed services of the two countries during the next year, developing a defence supply relationship, including through government-to-government foreign military sales programme. Highlighting the importance of the ongoing special operations airborne exercise in building interoperability, the DPG agreed to conduct further exercises. They also agreed that their representatives would in coming weeks address counter-terrorism equipment requirements for India’s special operations forces. The two delegations agreed on the need to work closely for speedier approvals of export licences in the USA and resumption of technical cooperation in defence research, development and production. During the meeting, the two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to work together to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and agreed to hold further consultations in coming weeks on the threat such proliferation poses to their common security interests.
PTI |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN FOR the military rulers in Pakistan, the current heightened tensions between India and Pakistan are proving to be a mixed boon. Most sections of the Pakistani media, which had been critical for the past one year and lambasted
Gen Pervez Musharraf for the manufactured mandate through referendum, find themselves in a bind. They cannot afford to deny him support in case of war with India. The Kashmir issue is as emotive in Pakistan as in India. Still newspapers like
Dawn, Nation and Friday Times have taken exception and are urging for restraint and a check on the jehadi elements. One common theme is that war must be averted. Many blame India for this hysteria, particularly the
BJP’s electoral and political compulsions. Nonetheless, saner voices are making attempts to be heard. Pakistan’s leading daily,
Nation feels that Pakistan is fast losing on the diplomatic front and western nations are accepting the Indian position that cross-border terrorism must end and that Pakistan must control the extremist elements. Similarly,
Dawn published Indian journalist M. J. Akbar’s article where he quoted
The International Herald Tribune to plead that it was time for Pakistan to finish once and for all the jehadi elements. It said,
The International Herald Tribune carried a column by Jim Hoagland of the
Washington Post. He said, “No one plays this aid game better than Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf, whose uneven help in the way on terrorism has been purchased at excessive monetary and moral cost to the USA. Washington’s unconditional generosity now seems to encourage the Pakistanis to toy with the USA even on the subject of terrorism...How do you say chutzpah in Urdu?” Hoagland then shifts to the scene in South Asia: “After a three-month lull, terrorist groups that infiltrate saboteurs and killers into Kashmir have in recent weeks resumed their normal rate of attacks across the informal ‘line of control’ in the disputed territory.” However, the most striking part of the column was a quotation from Lieutenant-General Ehsanul Haq, the Pakistani intelligence chief, from a speech he made to his commanders in the first week of May: “There exists an all-time high risk of Pak-India conflict in the coming weeks”. On what basis did he make this statement? This was certainly not the view from this side of the border. The mood in Delhi was induced by the lull after the attack on Parliament on December 13. The threat of war, that had seemed so real in December and January, had in fact receded, and there were even murmurs about de-escalation. Did Haq know something that Delhi was not yet aware of? Did he know, for instance, that there would be attacks on the Indian army camps in Jammu and Kashmir? The phrase that General Haq used was “an all-time high risk”. Higher than Kargil? These assessments certainly let the cat out of the bag and the well-proven Indian charge clearly sticks. Dawn, however, differed when it said, “ US Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain said she would give nine out of ten marks to President Musharraf for cooperating with the world coalition in the war on terror. However, it remains to be seen if Pakistan’s role in combating terrorism both within and outside is going to factor into political and diplomatic efforts to avoid a war in South Asia. Given the gravity of the situation, America and its European allies should be expected to redouble their efforts to make India see the horrible consequences.” By talking tough and meeting his commanders, Musharraf has been trying to enlist the support of the political leadership. Here he had only limited success. Many leaders boycotted his sermons. Interestingly, he conceded for the first time that he needed a de facto and de jure
Prime Minister to the do the job. But Benazir Bhutto writing in Nation
on May 24 threw a spanner in his works when she blamed the army for the extremist violence in Pakistan. In Karachi alone, 5,000 people have lost their lives during the past decade. She said, “Islamabad’s descent into madness can stop when the military hardliners who seized power in 1996 are replaced through transparent elections that bring a political change. This is possible when the military and the judiciary join the people in supporting implementation of electoral reforms ensuring democracy. Otherwise the war that started in Kabul last September could end up in Delhi on the back of militants determined to play a high stakes game with human lives.” *** As Najam Sethi sees it
India has managed to create the perception abroad that it means business like never before. That is why the international community is asking Pakistan to dismantle the Kashmiri training camps and stop infiltrating men and materials across the LoC before India’s patience runs out. Our generals have also noted that India’s political intentions and military capabilities have never synchronised so menacingly before. Thus, in Pakistan’s reckoning, the chances of India launching a limited or unlimited war are about fifty-fifty. What should Islamabad do? One option is to prepare for war, tell India to go fly a kite and face the political and military consequences that flow from war. That would be stupid. No government or nation can afford to miscalculate the consequences of war, let alone ignore them. In our case, these could range from the worst-case nuclear holocaust scenario to the best-case military stalemate scenario. But the latter case would probably exact the same political cost from General Musharraf as the military stalemate (even victory) in Kargil did of Nawaz Sharif in 1999. Why is that? There is one basic reason for this. The international community, especially the USA, is now sympathetic to India’s view that our Kashmiri “freedom-fighters” are their common “jeihadi terrorists” in the same manner as the Al-Qaeda terrorists who are motivated by religious rage. Indeed, where our hawks are inclined to separate our “freedom fighters” from our sectarian extremists and Al-Qaeda terrorists, the world is convinced that they are of the same ilk with a shared hatred for the USA, Israel, India and the West. Thus India’s demand that General Musharraf crack down on “cross-border terrorists” finds a strong echo in Washington and elsewhere where this is seen as part and parcel of the crackdown promised by General Musharraf on all forms of terrorism last January. Therefore in the event of a conflict with India, however limited, there will be at least one casualty at the very top in Islamabad. Another option is to call India’s bluff and do nothing. This is problematic too because India’s BJP is continuing to beef up its arsenal and shrilling its rhetoric, thereby painting itself into a corner from where it can only extract itself by lashing out at Pakistan. At the heart of the matter is the Kashmir conflict. What lessons, should we have learnt from our experience so far? First, that infiltrating men and materials into the valley will not yield the forbidden fruit. It didn’t in 1947-48; it didn’t in 1965; and it hasn’t since 1990. And second, that “Islamising” a liberation struggle as in Kashmir since 1990 or supporting an “Islamic” cause as in the Taliban’s Afghanistan from 1994-2001 does great harm to us since it alienates and angers the world against Pakistan and also sows the seeds of instability, violence and division within our own homeland. Under the circumstances, General Pervez Musharraf’s road map is laid out for him just as clearly as it was last September vis-a-vis the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He should implement his January promise to root out all imported, homegrown or exported forms of extremism, violence and terrorism. If he does that, he will be seen as having served the cause of Pakistan rather than succumbing to the demands of India or the USA.  |
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LTTE political action allowed Colombo, May 24 The ceasefire accord signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran came into effect on February 23, and Tiger cadres have been allowed in restricted numbers to indulge in political activity in government-held towns and villages. Defence officials, quoted by state-run Tamil daily Dinakaran, said LTTE members would be allowed without the need for prior permission into government territory. The only condition is that they should not carry arms or wear their military uniforms. The LTTE has set up political offices in several towns already, and has also been recruiting volunteers for political work, which essentially involves organising and addressing public meetings and mobilising the Tamil population for propaganda and protest rallies. Amounting to a de facto removal of the 1998 ban on the LTTE, the extent of its overt political activity has rendered an official decision on de-proscription a mere formality. However, the government is under pressure from the Opposition to remove the ban without getting something in return, perhaps a firm date for commencement of talks. Several other clauses in the ceasefire pact are being implemented one after another, albeit well behind the deadlines specified in it. Restrictions on fishing activity off the north-east coast are to be removed soon, with a government gazette notification to the effect expected in a day or two. The Defence Ministry has asked its security forces to identify places of alternative accommodation so that they may vacate schools and public buildings currently occupied by them. The Army has already moved out of temples in the past few days.
PTI |
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33 ministers stand firm with Deuba Kathmandu, May 24 The 33 ministers of the 36-member ministry, in a joint statement, also asked the ruling Nepali Congress Party President to withdraw disciplinary action initiated against Mr Deuba. “We are one with the Prime Minister at this crucial moment,” the statement said. The Nepali Congress yesterday suspended Mr Deuba from ordinary membership of the party for his decision to extend emergency and dissolving parliament without consulting the party. The action was followed by the resignation of three ministers loyal to party president Girija Prasad Koirala.
PTI |
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US Senate passes Bill against bio-terror Washington, May 24 The legislation expands federal stockpiles of drugs and vaccines and provides $ 1.6 billion for local hospitals and public health agencies — many of which don’t even have fax machines or Internet access — to get the training and resources needed to recognise, treat and contain a deadly attack.
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Council
opens UN door to East Timor United Nations, May 24 The tiny Pacific territory became the world’s newest nation on Monday after centuries of colonisation by Portugal, 24 years of occupation by Indonesia and almost three years of the United Nations administration. In its first act, East Timor’s 88-member parliament voted to sign the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human rights and join the United Nations. It gave its U.N. application to Secretary-General Kofi Annan who hours earlier handed over power to President Xanana Gusmao at independence celebrations.
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