The Hindu : Pak. not honouring commitment, India tells Japan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 23, 2002

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Pak. not honouring commitment, India tells Japan

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Oct. 22. India is disappointed at the international community's inability to make Pakistan conform to its commitment to end cross-border terrorism, the Foreign Office spokesman said today. And this had been conveyed by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, to the Japanese Prime Minister's Special Envoy, Yoshiro Mori.

Mr. Mori, a former Prime Minister himself, also met the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and handed over a "special message'' from his Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi. Earlier, Mr. Mori was scheduled to hand over the letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who cancelled his engagements due to ill health.

During the Sinha-Mori meeting, the Minister had expressed India's determination to fight cross-border terrorism. Mr. Mori, here for the last couple of days, inaugurated the celebrations to mark the 50th year of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. The spokesman said that he had welcomed India's decision to re-deploy forces and the successful conduct of elections in Jammu and Kashmir in the face of terrorist activity.

According to sources, Mr. Mori conveyed to Mr. Advani that Japan continued to pressure Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism. He recognised that India was a victim of terrorism and that India had shown restraint in the wake of the December 13 attack on Parliament. Japan, he said, wanted terrorist camps in Pakistan to be dismantled and cross-border infiltration stopped. While condemning all kinds of terrorism, Mr. Mori hoped that tensions between Pakistan and India would reduce further and they could resume their dialogue.

Asked why India was expressing disappointment with the international community when earlier it had claimed success, the spokesman said that these were not "one-off situations.'' After September 11, there had been greater recognition from the international community about the problem of cross-border terrorism faced by India. However, there had not been "unmitigated success'' as far as tackling cross-border terrorism was concerned. Terrorism was not just a "problem,'' but a menace as far as India was concerned.

On the remarks by the U.S. Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, urging a dialogue between India and Pakistan, the spokesman said New Delhi had noted the envoy's comments. To create a conducive atmosphere for a possible dialogue, cross-border terrorism had to end. In response to a question on the Pakistani military spokesman's reported comments that India should begin withdrawing its troops before Islamabad did the same, the spokesman said there was nothing to react.

India, he said, had already taken its decision to withdraw its troops. Pakistan's response was its own affair.

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