The Hindu : National : U.S. policy on Pakistan a disaster: Jaswant

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Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
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U.S. policy on Pakistan a disaster: Jaswant

Staff Reporter

“India should move forward realistically while fostering ties with China”

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

The former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, speaks at the international conference on ‘’The India-China-U.S.A Triangle’ in Kochi on Tuesday. Others from left are the former Air Chief Marshal, S. Krishnaswamy, the former People’s Liberation Army General, Pan Zhenjiang, and Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy.

KOCHI: The former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, has said that it is time India woke up to the disaster it faces on account of the U.S. policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Interacting with a group of journalists on the sidelines of an international conference on ‘’The India-China-U.S.A-Triangle’ on the SCMS campus here on Tuesday, Mr. Singh said the U.S. had absolutely no option left but to continue support for the regime of Pervez Musharraf.

“The U.S. policy in the region is a policy for disaster. It is necessary for the Indian government to recognise that,” he said.

Pointing out that the U.S. had a considerable presence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mr. Singh said that India did not even have direct land access to places such as Kabul. “India today is a large supporter and provides a lot of trade to Afghanistan. We cannot send goods for example from Amritsar to Kabul by land yet now,” he said.

India’s relationship with China should not be built on dreams, Mr. Singh said and added that there was a deficit of understanding and a surplus of suspicion in the relations.

The nation should move forward realistically and keep its interests while fostering relationship with China. It should not repeat the mistakes committed earlier. “India and China have at best competitive cooperation,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of an ‘India-China-U.S. Triangle,’ Mr. Jaswant Singh wondered whether a trilateral relation was really possible. “I do not see it.”

Saying that the entire neighbourhood of India, from Sri Lanka to the Gulf countries and the Maldives, was a circle of disturbed countries, he said this was a major challenge to India’s foreign policy. “I should really call the present arrangement of governance an arrangement at misgovernance.”

Mr. Singh said India had not sufficiently taken note of the perils to its security that the Maoist ‘take-over’ of Nepal had caused.

“I cannot explain the dimension when almost 178 districts of the country from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh northwards are today Maoist-afflicted. The internal situation in the country has never been so bad as it is today,” he added.

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