The Hindu : War of words between India, Pak. escalates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 28, 2002

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War of words between India, Pak. escalates

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Nov. 27. There has been a spurt in the war of words between India and Pakistan since the assumption of office by the civilian setup led by the Prime Minister, Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali, on November 23.

The ray of hope of improvement in relations between the two countries, generated by the new Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, that normalisation of ties with New Delhi was a priority for the Jamali Government here, proved to be shortlived.

Comments made by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, in the course of his `Hard Talk' interview with BBC, against Pakistan has evoked a sharp reaction here. Mr. Sinha's appeal to the international community to impose sanctions against Pakistan for its "failure to curb terrorism" provoked the Pakistan Foreign Office to charge New Delhi with practising a policy of "coercive diplomacy".

Today, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry took exception to what were termed as "anti-Pakistan" observations made by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, in the Lok Sabha. "Mr. Advani has engaged in his usual, and by now familiar, tirade against Pakistan. The spokesman rejected the charges levelled by Mr. Advani as baseless and motivated,'' a statement said.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office alleged that it had been India's constant effort to portray the "Kashmiri freedom struggle" as "foreign inspired".

"This diabolical twin objective of the Government of India has led its security forces to engage in extra-judicial killings through stage-managed operations and then to present those murdered as terrorists killed in action," the statement alleged.

``The latest manifestation of this strategy was the recent killing of two individuals at Ansal Plaza in New Delhi.

Though the Indian Deputy Prime Minister had lashed out against Pakistan immediately after the incident, there is sufficient evidence now to confirm that the operation was planned and executed by the Indian security agencies in pursuit of their nefarious designs,'' it alleged.

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