Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s deliberations with US President Barack Obama as his first state guest did not result in any dramatic announcements but New Delhi was satisfied that it was able to persuade Washington to acknowledge that India was being inflicted by terrorism from neighbouring Pakistan.
Washington went a step further by calling for the defeat of terrorist “safe havens” in Pakistan and Afghanistan and agreed to enhance collaboration in this effort.
The joint statement was prefaced with a commitment by both leaders to expand and deepen their relations. President Obama described India as a “rising and responsible global power” to assure India that it was very much on the US radar and that any impression to the contrary was incorrect.
President Obama did refer to Pakistan’s role in combating terrorism in the region in the course of his press conference, this found greater elaboration in the joint statement issued by the two leaders after their discussions at the White House this morning.
Taking note of the first anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage , the US condemned the attack with both leaders underscoring the ''absolute imperative to bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack.”
The joint statement specifically referred to the “threat posed by terrorism and violent extremists emanating from India’s neighborhood” and resolved to work together in taking credible steps in eliminating sanctuaries that provide shelter to terrorists. The statement also called for the “defeat of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
The two countries signed a new memorandum of understanding on counter-terrorism cooperation to help each other in information and intelligence sharing related to terrorism, which institutionalised an arrangement which has been in place since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
India is drawing solace from this acknowledgement of Pakistan’s role in encouraging cross-border terrorism as the Barack Obama
administration recently sanctioned massive aid for Pakistan as it sees Islamabad as an important ally in its battle against the Taliban and Al-Qaida. India is unhappy that the US has not been leaning hard enough on Islamabad to take action against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks and is now worried that the humanitarian aid being given to Pakistan could be siphoned off to fund terrorist activities.President Obama’s commitment on the implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement during his press conference also found mention in the joint statement, which also acknowledges India as a responsible nuclear power. Taking note of the Obama administration’s sensitivities on non-proliferation, India was quick to reaffirm its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing and agreed with US to start early negotiations on a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationally verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. On its part, the US committed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) at an early date. There are fears that such a development would encourage the US to pressurise India to sign the CTBT, which has not been accepted by New Delhi.
