India, Russia sign declaration to combat terrorism

By P. S. Suryanarayana

MOSCOW, NOV. 6. India and Russia today signed a new Moscow Declaration on ``international terrorism'' and made a joint statement exclusively on ``strategic issues'' of global importance. The statement called for the creation of ``a new cooperative security order'' as the launch-pad for the development of ``a multi-polar world''.

The advocacy of the new security order, not a novel proposition, can acquire significance as a competitive Indo- Russian effort to induce the U.S. to look at its own concept of a ``new strategic framework'' through this prism as well.

In mapping out today's documents, the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, sent out signals to the U.S. about their desire to join it in reshaping the terror-traumatised world order. Yet, both Mr. Putin and Mr. Vajpayee stopped well short of putting themselves on a collision course with the U.S. There was no wake- up call that might be of immediate or direct concern to Washington.

The new Moscow Declaration was given finishing touches during the Putin-Vajpayee summit that took place in the Kremlin today. The centrepiece of the declaration was their joint call for the ``completion of negotiations under (the) U.N. auspices on the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and the Convention for the suppression of acts of Nuclear Terrorism''. The adoption of these conventions would ``assist in strengthening the international legal basis for effectively combating the global menace of terrorism'', the two leaders underlined. Without spelling out any action plan, they ``reaffirmed the central role of the U.N. in the struggle against terrorism''. They annotated this affirmation to mean a strict adherence to ``international law including the U.N. Charter''.

At a post-summit press conference, Mr. Putin spoke disapprovingly of the present ``double standards'' of the international community in the fight against terror - a transparent reference to the perceptions about the U.S.' response to Russia's troubles in Chechnya and India's saga of sorrow in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the Moscow Declaration was silent on this aspect of ``double standards''. This could only be inferred from the insistence by India and Russia that ``international law'' be the take-off base for ``decisive measures against all states, individuals and entities which render support (to), harbour, finance, instigate terrorists'' or against those promoting terrorism in other ways too.

The Indo-Russian statement on ``strategic issues'' was more forthright than the Moscow Declaration in spelling out views of immediate interest to the United States. India and Russia expressed ``their support to preserving (the) existing arms control and disarmament agreements including the (Russo-American) Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (of 1972)''. Moreover, the two countries called for the ``non-weaponisation of outer space.'' In some contrast, it was only a few days ago that Russia indicated a certain willingness to take a fresh look at this Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in the new strategic environment that is defined by America's plans for a missile defence system.

India and Russia today pledged their ``readiness to work jointly with other states on the creation of a global control system for the non-proliferation of missiles and missile technologies on a global, equal and non-discriminatory basis under the U.N. auspices.''

On Afghanistan, Mr. Putin endorsed India's credentials for a role in the settlement of the crisis. But he did not call for an expansion of the U.N.-sponsored ``six-plus- two mechanism'' to include India. The `six-plus-two' caucus on Afghanistan consists of its six geopolitical neighbours plus the U.S. and Russia.

On Kashmir, an issue that figured in the Putin- Vajpayee summit, the Russian leader commended the instrumentality of a direct dialogue between India and Pakistan.

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