The Hindu : E.U. calls for J&K polls in a 'climate of freedom'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 02, 2002

International

International

E.U. calls for J&K polls in a 'climate of freedom'

By P. S. Suryanarayana

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Brunei) Aug. 1. The European Union today expressed the hope that elections in Jammu and Kashmir would take place in "a climate of freedom". Such elections would set the stage for a "positive movement towards dialogue between India and Pakistan", the European Unions High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Javier Solana, said.

Mr. Solana was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the meetings here between the Association of South East Asian Nations and its dialogue partners, which include India but not Pakistan. Noting that Kashmir dispute "cannot be hidden from the international community's gaze", Mr. Solana said that it was time Pakistan addressed the issue of "trans-border terrorism that was taking place from its side into India".

Observing that the terrorist crossings into India along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir had at present "diminished", the E.U. official indicated that the international community would like to see Pakistan act in a manner that would help end trans-border terrorism and also facilitate free polls in Jammu and Kashmir. It was in this context that "a possibility exists for a positive way" of moving out of the current impasse on the India-Pakistan front, Mr. Solana indicated, but he was not inclined to be drawn into a discussion on how the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) issued an India-friendly statement on Wednesday on the Pakistan issue after the South East Asian association, which constitutes the ARF's nucleus, had only a day earlier equated New Delhi and Islamabad.

The story within the wider diplomatic circles of the ARF member-states is that the U.S. intervention at the plenary session of the security forum and the European Union's willingness to take a forthright stand against political terrorism were not the only factors that enabled the ASEAN and other nuclear pacifists to take a final view that suited New Delhi. It is considered very significant in this context that China, a known benefactor of Pakistan, has associated itself with the ARF Chairman's statement, despite its sophisticated plainspeak about Islamabad's obligation to end cross-border terrorist infiltration into India.

The overwhelming impact of the U.S.-led international discourse against political terrorism is the context in which China has made its choice at this ARF meeting. The ASEAN itself has moved to sign along with the U.S. a document, hailed as a virtual Magna Carta of anti-terror sentiments. In the event, even Japan, which took a particularly grim view of the recent ``nuclearised tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi", is understood to have interacted with India in a noticeable atmosphere of goodwill. The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, and the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, held a bilateral meeting that enabled the two sides to recognise the positive opportunities for new bilateral linkages in the context of their respective positions as an economic superpower and an emerging power.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

E.U. calls for J&K polls in a 'climate of freedom'

India offers help to combat terrorism

Pak. pledges support for Sri Lanka's peace initiatives

U.S., ASEAN sign pact to combat terror

Another step back in West Asia peace process

Congress wants Bush to consult it on Iraq

Can British fight in Iraq?

Jenin: U.N. report rejects PA claim

Diana memorial 'ugly, mediocre'

Qatar annoys OIC partners

China to buy Russian fighters

LTTE replaces regional heads

Pak. takes exception to ARF communique