The Hindu : Cross-border terrorism is the only issue: Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2003

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Cross-border terrorism is the only issue: Sinha

NEW DELHI APRIL 1. Reacting to the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell's statement that ``India and Pakistan tension" is the next on the list after the Iraq war, India today said the only issue that merited attention was cross-border terrorism by Pakistan.

The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said: ``So far as India is concerned the issue of cross-border terrorism by Pakistan was the central issue.''

``The U.S. can decide on how it wishes to ensure compliance by Pakistan with its promise of putting a stop to the active role in training and sending militants across the border," he said.

Mr. Sinha reiterated India's position that the Kashmir issue, apart from Pakistan's active support to terrorism, was solely its concern and the responsibility of finding a solution lay with the people and the Government of India.

``It is the people of India who have been paying the price of terrorism,'' he said.

Mr. Sinha made these statements on being asked about the remark made by Mr. Powell in a recent interview to the New York Times.

He, however, added that he had not yet looked into the context in which these remarks were made.

PTI reports from Washington:

Despite Pakistan's pledge to stop cross-border terrorism, Islamabad-backed militants continued with their ``concerted campaign of execution-style'' killings of civilians and indulged in ``other forms of brutality'' in the Jammu and Kashmir, the U.S. has said.

``The concerted campaign of execution-style killings of civilians by Kashmiri and foreign-based militant groups continued and included several killings of political leaders and party workers,'' the U.S. State Department in its annual report for 2002, released on Monday said. — UNI, PTI

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